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Recently i got some better than usual family pics on my 400D & 17-85mm. It was a bright day, I'd set ISO 200 and aperture mode to f8. I'd also set picture style to Snapshot portrait from
http://www.canon.co.jp/imaging/picturestyle/index.html
What made my shots better this time?
- I've heard ISO 200 is what canon sensors are optimised for.
- I've also heard a lens is better from f8 to f11 (ignoring DOF).
- The bright light must have helped.
- The picture style should only affect the JPEGs nor Raw image downloaded to elements 6.
One or more of these seemed to be on a sweet spot that improved my photo's - Did you ever find a particular sweet spot for your shots?
On most lenses the optimum aperture is between F5.6 and F11. Above F11 you run into problems with defraction, more evident on cameras that are crop sensor (like the 400D) and its more evident the higher the pixel count. You don't say if the lenses are pro glass (L in the case of dare I say it Canon 
)
Also below F5.6 focusing issues are amplified, as are lens errors. In the pro spec cameras you can adjust the sweet spot and it can make a big difference.
Quote: On most lenses the optimum aperture is between F5.6 and F11. Above F11 you run into problems with defraction, more evident on cameras that are crop sensor (like the 400D) and its more evident the higher the pixel count. You don't say if the lenses are pro glass (L in the case of dare I say it Canon )
Also below F5.6 focusing issues are amplified, as are lens errors. In the pro spec cameras you can adjust the sweet spot and it can make a big difference.
Cheers Nick, the 17-85mm is not a canon L Its in the EFS range, but meant to be an OK lens generally.
You mention adjusting the lens sweet spot in better cameras - is this the micro focus adjustments feature ?
Some fast lenses are optomised for the wide aperture, which is why you bought the lens. Most lenses have their sweet spot 2 stops below maximum aperture.
Pentax DA, D FA, FA or FA J lenses are chipped with the MTF data (sweet spot for that particular lens), the camera can bias the exposure using that data in Program Mode.
Chris
"The "sweet spot" only becomes significant if making really big enlargements - perhaps A2 from a crop on 12 MP.
For anything for the web (partly because the file is converted to jpeg collapsing 8 pieces of information into 1) and probably for a print no bigger than A4 from a 40D at 200 ISO any differences not shooting at optimum aperture are unlikely to be detectable at the appropriate file sizes.
Generally primes of 300mm and longer are over 90% efficient wide open in the frame corners making the "sweet spot" an irrelevance.
Some older film era wide angle designs struggle to make 70% center and 40% corner efficiency wide open and benefit a lot more than long telephotos from stopping down.
Some older designs loose corner quality on digital (not being telecentric) and some recent optical designs are much better than older designs.
There are actually 2 issues, the first being is the lens good in the first place, especially if film era used on digital. The next is what are the optimum apertures for big enlargements.
As a rule of thumb f8-f11 are best, though on an f5.6 lens f8 may be not as good as f11.
Generally (on f2.8 and faster lenses) f4-5.6 and f16 loose similar quality compared to f8-11.
Most manufactures produce MTF which, if f8 is included, give a good indication of the likely difference between wide open and f8.
On your other point DSLR sensors deliver optimum quality at the lowest standard ISO setting, though with improving technology differences at 400 and 800 are becoming increasingly difficult to detect.
Generally lenses are best either 2 stops down OR at f8 (depends who you listen to).
More expensive lenses are better engineered and suffer much less at apertures outside this range, which is part of the reason that an L lens can cost 5 times more than the non L equivalent although generally this holds true..
Also primes suffer much less than zooms and long lenses suffer less than wides.
Also if you investigate the detailed settings in the snapshot preset on your camera you will probably find that the sharpness setting is ramped right up which may partly explain your sharp shots. This is great for snaps (by definition a snap is not something you are going to want to do a lot of work on but take , print at postcard size or a little larger and put in an album) but you may find if you tried to shoot at a much higher ISO or start doing a lot of photoshop work on them that the sharpness would quickly cause the images to break up as you manipulated / resized them.. Therefore, for 'serious' work you should shoot with less in camera sharpening and then apply it in computer after you have finished all other manipulation and resizing work.
Hi Sam
Quote: Also if you investigate the detailed settings in the snapshot preset on your camera you will probably find that the sharpness setting is ramped right up which may partly explain your sharp shots.
I get your point, however sharpness is down to less than half the available setting on that picture style. Also my RAW images are better, and i beleive this is unaffected by picture style & sharpness applied to the jpeg (i shoot raw and jpeg at the same time).
It seems as if shooting a few stops down is a key feature, this alone may improve some long shots as am usually wide open to get all available light.
Quote: Generally lenses are best either 2 stops down OR at f8 (depends who you listen to).
Some of us also do our own testing!
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