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April 2, 2008

Optimal Lens Aperture for Sharp Photos

Lenses have many apertures available for use.  Aperture is used to modify the amount of light entering the camera body and can have the effect of increasing or decreasing shutter speeds and depth of field. It also has an effect on the sharpness of your image.

Stopping down a lens (using a smaller f-stop / a larger f number) has the effect of perceived increases in sharpness.  Because of aberrations and diffraction though, a lenses optimal sharpness occurs a couple stops before maximium aperture, which for most lenses is between f5.6 and f11 depending on the lens.

Until next time, happy shooting.

Note: Updated April 4, 2008

Posted on April 2, 2008 07:46 PM | Permalink

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