When would you use f22?

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donkey_kong

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Apologies in advance for my amateur-ish question!

I've been reading various books and online articles about sharpness and a lot of articles mentioned that the optimum aperture for landscapes is somewhere in the region of f8 and f14 to allow maximum sharpness. The sharpness actually declines when we go above this range.

So, i've been trying to figure out - why would anyone use the likes of f22 aperture when it's sharper several stops lower?
 
you may need to use the f22 setting when you need a slower shutter speed in bright conditions.
 
More Depth of field too - so more overall sharpness thoughout
 
Smaller apertures can soften an image because of diffraction (Nikon state that apertures smaller than f8 can produce diffraction effects on the D800 :eek:). This softening cannot be recovered by PP sharpening.

OTOH, it depends on the nature of the image as to whether you'll notice it or be bothered by it.
 
Pretty commonly used in macro photography as well where even F/22 will give a tiny DOF.
 
Also useful for getting the "starburst" effect.
 
I've found a lot of these statements while true on charts don't have much relevance to the real world and when taking macro shots with my tele zoom and exension tubes I often use from f22 to f32 with no noticeable loss in sharpness.

Best advice try it and see.

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i was wondering when you use a high aperture value i.e f22-32 etc of course it will show the dust on the sensor as well but when use screw in filter like 10 stop for example and when you exposing the image and their are some dust on the filter as well, will that appear on the image as well?
 
gad-westy said:
Pretty commonly used in macro photography as well where even F/22 will give a tiny DOF.
Click to expand...

+1
Macro is about the only time I'll use f/22. If I need to extend the shutter speed for a landscape I'd rather use an ND filter.
 
badboy1984 said:
i was wondering when you use a high aperture value i.e f22-32 etc of course it will show the dust on the sensor as well but when use screw in filter like 10 stop for example and when you exposing the image and their are some dust on the filter as well, will that appear on the image as well?
Click to expand...

No. Not the same thing at all - visible dust on sensor is a depth of focus effect, as opposed to depth of field. Quite different.
 
I use the higher f numbers for better sharpness, the quality over a low aperture value is so much better
 
crazybass said:
I use the higher f numbers for better sharpness, the quality over a low aperture value is so much better
Click to expand...

It sounds like you're confusing depth of field with sharpness.

For optimum sharpness your lens will have a sweet spot, usually around f8-f11 where sharpness is optimum. Go beyond that and you start to get into the realms of diffraction which, perversely, will start to reduce sharpness, even though you'll get a world of depth of field.

Unless you're doing something specialist, like the macro examples above, you'll not need f22 or above, it will just decrease sharpness. If you need to slow your exposures down to smooth out water, skies etc, you're far better off using good quality ND filters than simply using the smallest aperture available.
 
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