Every lens has it's own "sweet spot" (f Number) regardless of manufacture, and it isn't wide open.
I have been into photography since the 1950's and the only reason to shoot wide open is that the light demands it and you want the image regardless of sharpness.
This is not really as important today because that a slightly underexposed image can be corrected in post, something that was next to impossible shooting film.
How many of you have tested your lenses to determine their sweet spot?
Jim Bianco wrote:
What do you guys think what is the better 50mm lens a 50 1.8 afs lens or a 50 1.4 ais lens? Thanks Jim Bianco, I do not know what lens to get.
I have the 50mm 1.8 AF-S G lens. Very nice IQ and a bargain at under $200. BTW this is a full frame and is great on my APS-C cameras.
I have the AF 50mm F1.8 and an AF F1.4. I also own an AI 50mm F2 and an Ai 50mm F1.4 plus a 50mm AiS F1.8.... I rarely use any of them....
`
Nobody has more 50s hanging around than I do
.... altho surely there's a few hogsters who have
equally many. We are all equal in that we cannot
actually accurately count them all !
Tis true that many of these are not stellar optics.
But thaz not really a real-world problem. If it was,
we'd all reclaim the space they occupy by tossing
them in the dumpster :-)
In a not-so-very-real-world fantasy, you can just
buy a huge, heavy, expensive Zeiss, Sigma, etc,
etc and invent situations where it can really strut
its stuff, and be privately awestruck by its optical
wondrousness. Peepers rejoice !
In thread after thread this life and death choice
of big, pricey miracle 50 vs routine 50 plays out
as if there is no middle ground. This tragic scene
is the failing of Tamron, for being stingy with the
payola. But if you look under the right rocks you
will find the users and reviewers of the Tamron
45/1.8 VC. "VC" is vibration canceling. Does any
other fast normal have VC ? Optically, the 45/1.8
is terrific. Are the mega-sooper-dooper 50s from
Sigma, et al, better than merely terrific ? Maybe.
Should you care about that difference ? Will it be
visible in your pix ? I dunno ... But I CAN assure
you that VC will be quite often visible in your pix,
especially if your need of a fast lens is related to
low light shooting at the usually marginal hand
held shutter speeds involved.
But, you hafta look under the right rocks. Don't
bother with the quite useless UHH search engine.
You will hafta enter your search terms plus "Ugly
Hedge Hog" into a Google search, and let Google
search the UHH posts. The UHH search engine
does not read the content of posts. It only reads
thread titles. Worse than useless :-(
.
Jim Bianco wrote:
What do you guys think what is the better 50mm lens a 50 1.8 afs lens or a 50 1.4 ais lens? Thanks Jim Bianco, I do not know what lens to get.
I have a 50/1.4 it's my fave 50mm lens. I use it on my Fujis and now and then on my D300. I love Nikon Pre Ai and ai lenses.
As for the 1.8 AFD here's the link to Ken Rockwell's review
https://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/5018daf.htm.
Good luck.
Dale Evans - Amaetur wrote:
Every lens has it's own "sweet spot" (f Number) regardless of manufacture, and it isn't wide open.
The 400 and 560 f/6.8 Leitz Telyt lenses, to name but two, produce their best image quality wide open, and stopping down does not improve it. I consider the best aperture of any lens to be that which produces the desired depth of field. Whether viewing a print, slide show, or digital image on television at normal distances I really don’t notice much softening caused by diffraction, but I sure see when something is out of focus.
RWR wrote:
The 400 and 560 f/6.8 Leitz Telyt lenses, to name but
two, produce their best image quality wide open, and
stopping down does not improve it. ...... .
Thaz cuz f/6.8 Telyts are already stopped
down even when they're "wide open" [sic].
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