What F-Stop range do you use

[drevil]

Out of curiosity

Multiple answers possible and appreciated

 

[Godfrey]

Depends on the lens and whatever specific imaging goal I'm after. The old rule as a default is to use 1-2 stops down from wide open for best performance.

G

 

[MGrayson]

Whatever I set the lens to last time and forgot to change. I wish this were a joke.

Matt

 

[Paul Spinnler]

Leica M: 1.4 / 2.0 largest aperture always - that's reason to shoot Leica
Tech cam f8/f11

 

[Greg Haag]

Most of what I shoot would fall into the landscape or architectural category, and for me almost without exception that falls within f8-f11.

 

[Paul Spinnler]

I suppose tilt will become more crucial in the IQ5 gen with 250/275 megapixels, so I will aim to hit F8 then and use tilt to make sure foreground and horizon are sharo rather than F16.

P1 already advertises its tilt optics under the concept of shotting at wider f stops and using tilt to get diffraction free sharpness.

 

[drevil]

yeah paul, thats not the topic here

 

[anyone]

I'm in the f8 / f11 league. With 100mp, diffraction is visible at f11, but the greater depth of field is worth the slight penalty in sharpness. Tilting is not always an option (mountains) and focus stacking too much post processing work (for me).

 

[Duff photographer]

Depends on the application. In other words, all, except f32.

Cheers,
Duff

 

[Shashin]

I don't have any f/1.4 or f/2.0 medium format lenses, so I tend not to use those apertures. For landscape, I am in the f/11-f/16 range. For other things off a tripod, then aperture becomes part of the exposure equation. I then can be biasing toward a specific shutter speed. But then, I am happy to go outside what might be sensible shutter speeds handheld for more aesthetic considerations.

 

[BigBoy]

It varies by a lot but generally the largest aperture

 

[darr]

For me, it depends on the subject, lighting conditions, and sometimes, whether it is with film or digital.
Most of the time, I aim for f/11 with MFD on a tripod. F/22 with 6x17 film camera. My 6x6 film is all over the place.

 

[vjbelle]

Really depends on the camera used. Tech for sure would require smaller apertures as the lenses, most of the time, were not designed for wide open usage but rather for shifting. But the Fuji 1.7 lenses really beg to be used at wide open apertures for that really shallow DOF. It's really great to have these choices in MF..

Victor B.

 

[hcubell]

Leica M: 1.4 / 2.0 largest aperture always - that's reason to shoot Leica
Tech cam f8/f11

P

 

[diggles]

For me it's generally f11. If I don't have to worry too much about depth of field then f8. If I do, then f16 or even f22 on rare occasions.

 

[mristuccia]

Handheld: f5.6-f8
On tripod: f11

There are rare exceptions, eg. portraiture, where I use f2.8-f4.

 

[drevil]

So the reason why i am asking, why do lens makers even still offer high apertures like F22 and F32, i was surprised to see that F22 was even still chosen.
The diffraction at F22 is a problem even at large pixel sensors. F16 is the highest i ever go.

 

[daz7]

The diffraction at F22 is a problem even at large pixel sensors. F16 is the highest i ever go.

In a multi shot mode for some reason I can get away with smaller apertures and to my eyes f22 looks like f16 on a single shot sensor, diffraction wise.
I am using generally f8-f16 with occasional f22 and even f32 depending on the subject (50mp nultishot sensor)

 

[SCHWARZZEIT]

So the reason why i am asking, why do lens makers even still offer high apertures like F22 and F32, i was surprised to see that F22 was even still chosen.
The diffraction at F22 is a problem even at large pixel sensors. F16 is the highest i ever go.

Not every image is intended to be printed large or to hold an excessive amount of detail requiring high per pixel sharpness from a high-res sensor. Sometimes depth of field has a higher priority. If you intend to make only small or medium sized prints or put the images on social media the blur from diffraction at these apertures will not be noticeable but the gain of depth of field from stopping the lens down will be.

 

[stngoldberg]

F8 is my target, but many other factors could alter that
stanley