Sharpest Aperture

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actionward

Senior Member
Hi All,

I have been reading about especially during landscape to use my lens at the sharpest aperture. I believe it is usually between f7 - f11 but will vary on the lens. What is the best way to find out? Is there a website that will contain all this information.

​Thanks
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
Re: Sharpest Aperature

Lenses vary, some are f/1.4 lenses and some are f/5.6.... A rule of thumb is that stopped down 2 or 3 stops from maximum aperture is about the sharpest. For normal lenses, this is often around f/5.6, or maybe f/8. Stopping down more gives greater depth of field, but suffers from diffraction, more the more you stop down (so it is a trade off, depending on your goals). Landscapes may need more depth of field.

For individual lenses, a good test site (such as Nikon / Nikkor (APS-C) Lens Tests ) posts their results in detail.
 
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480sparky

Senior Member
I test every lens I own.

I set it up on a tripod in the back yard. I take a shot for every full aperture available and, if it's a zoom, for every focal length marked on the barrel.

I then pixel-peep the results. I grade each image on sharpness on a scale of 1-10, both in the center and at the corner. I then create a chart that I convert to a .pdf so I can store & view it on my phone if I need to. Each chart will show me the sharpest aperture for that lens, which apertures are 'good enough', and which ones to avoid. I also color-code the results so it's easy to see. Green = my first choice. Blue is still acceptable. Orange.... well, OK, I can live with it if I have to. Red.... avoid at all costs.

I do not rely on anyone else's testing.... their copy may differ from mine.

Here's a sample:

SweetSpot.jpg~original
 
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gqtuazon

Gear Head
actionward said:
Hi All,

I have been reading about especially during landscape to use my lens at the sharpest aperture. I believe it is usually between f7 - f11 but will vary on the lens. What is the best way to find out? Is there a website that will contain all this information.

​Thanks
Click to expand...

The folks here provided plenty of great information already. Just keep in mind that as you increase your aperture (higher number), your background isolation is also affected if you are shooting portraits.

One of the best lens tester is this guy if you are interested.

diglloyd - Blog
 
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Dimson

Senior Member
it's not always about shooting at sweet spot settings. it's about shooting at settings which best suit the subject.
for the vast majority of the lenses, the sweet spot is around f/8-11 on FX body and around f/6.3-8 on DX body.

on many occasions, sharpness alone has very little meaning.
other than that, there can be slight deviations between different lens copies, and the resolution curve may vary slightly.

for example, prior to my move to Nikon, i owned a Canon 17-40 f/4L lens which was slightly sharper both at the center as well as in the corner at f/16 than at f/11. go figure...
 
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