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Lens' sweet spot

PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2005 1:53 pm
by ast
heard that our lens' sweet spot is 'usually' 2-stops down from our lens widest opening. just want to ask you guys for tips / settings you normally used for indoor/outdoor shots with the ff. lens below, because my photos doesn't seem to 'pop' :(

1. 50mm f1.8D
2. 18-70mm kit lens
3. Sigma 70-300mm APO II



p.s. i have SB-800 flash, if there are tips with flash. :)



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Re: Lens' sweet spot

PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2005 3:14 pm
by sirhc55
ast wrote:heard that our lens' sweet spot is 'usually' 2-stops down from our lens widest opening. just want to ask you guys for tips / settings you normally used for indoor/outdoor shots with the ff. lens below, because my photos doesn't seem to 'pop' :(

1. 50mm f1.8D
2. 18-70mm kit lens
3. Sigma 70-300mm APO II



p.s. i have SB-800 flash, if there are tips with flash. :)



.


Hi ast

Personally I believe the sweet spot can vary from lens to lens of the same genre. On my kit lens I like to use around f/8 to f/11. The same with my 12-24mm.

Chris

PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2005 3:35 pm
by birddog114
I second to Chris,
I've found sweet spot of my lenses are difference with others and it's depend on the body as well.

PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2005 4:32 pm
by Raydar
One thing I have found on my 1.8 50mm is there’s two small indents on the aperture ring one underf8 & the other under f4, weather this is Nikons half assed attempt to show you were the sweet spot is I don’t know?????

Can any one tell me what there for??????

One thing I done one night when I was bored.

Set the cam up on a tripod & shot something with a little detail in it using all the f stops on the lens.
Load them up in your PC & have a look at them & try & work out what one looks best for you.
Next Day go out & use that f stop on a few images & see if you have found the sweet spot.


Cheers
Ray :P

PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2005 4:34 pm
by MHD
hmmm... interesting! My 50/1.4 has the same marks...

PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2005 5:31 pm
by digitor
Raydar wrote:One thing I have found on my 1.8 50mm is there’s two small indents on the aperture ring one underf8 & the other under f4, weather this is Nikons half assed attempt to show you were the sweet spot is I don’t know?????

Can any one tell me what there for??????

Cheers
Ray :P


This is where the tapped holes are for mounting the "claw" to engage the meter on older Nikons. Perhaps they put these dimples there to make it easier to add a modification to the old style, as a drilling guide. Here's a pic of my FM2, with 1.4/50 mounted.

Image

Cheers

PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2005 6:50 pm
by Raydar
Thanks mate.
That would be it, makes sense to me :wink:

Nice shot by the way :D

Cheers
Ray :P

PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:05 pm
by Grev
I like f7 with my kit lens, but that's just me... I'm sure it's different from lens like others have said.