**Photography Chat** Version 1.0

phelan

is there a list or general guideline for optimal or max f/stops you want to be looking at for lenses?

i guess my eyes aren't trained enough yet, i don't see a lot of noise in those pics. and mine have noise, but i usually go light on post processing so meh. it's all still a work in progress.

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凛 ('Rin') - 2009 Nissan 370Z
With silence comes peace. With peace comes freedom. With freedom comes silence.

Nick911sc

Every lens is different, if you wanna be really anal about it you can look up specific MTF charts online that show the optimal F stop sharpness of a lens. But generally the rule of thumb is...Whatever the open F stop of a lens is add 2 to it and that should be around optimal.

obviously this rule doesn't work for everything. macro for instance needs a very high F stop to get a clear photo since you're focusing so close. But that's the rule I follow for most lenses and it generally works.


For example... My 1.8 prime would be optimal around 4.. etc

Nitex

Nick! great info ty for all the advice. I have a lot to learn it seems

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2013 Drivers ED GTI | Stage 2 Unitronic

kenchan

wow nick! you da man. nice shots.

kenchan

beach- nice! that dragon fly has come nice colors... i lol'ed at spider. very impressive shots.

kenchan

kenchan's garage at night...

kenchan

quick question for those of you who take picts of cars. where exactly are you placing the focal point? in my shots i want to get the entire car in focus so usually focus on the front fender just aft of the headlight and use f/10 or higher.

any recommendations? thanks!

Parkerman

How far away are you generally standing from the car?




That is at 2.8 at 24mm... Standing roughly 10-15ft from the car I would say. Now it does change things a little when the car is more at an angle.

Here is a link to a larger version if you want to look a little closer.

http://www.parkerphotog.com/photos/i...nXXcdrG-X3.jpg



*edit*
I didn't actually make my point... haha. The further you stand back.. the more you can fit into your focal plane.

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phelan

Depends on the shot I want to take. Front three quarters if that makes sense I use the side marker and a high f stop.

__________________

凛 ('Rin') - 2009 Nissan 370Z
With silence comes peace. With peace comes freedom. With freedom comes silence.

Alchemy

My contribution for the day...

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Ryan
314WHP | 260LB-FT | STILLEN | KONI | SWIFT | STOPTECH | Z1 | PROJECT MU | CNT | UPREV | FORGESTAR | BRIDGESTONE | PWJDM | ENEOS | MOTUL

phelan

minor edits. can't get the bike one to not look faded. it looked okay on my LCD too. meh.

alchemy - beautiful flag silhouette shot.

__________________

凛 ('Rin') - 2009 Nissan 370Z
With silence comes peace. With peace comes freedom. With freedom comes silence.

kenchan

Parker- thanks! Thats a nice shot. On the vw did u focus on the door where it meets the side window?

I'm usually standing about 15-20ft from my car using my kit lens at 22-35mm f8 or higher number.
if I was taking a pict like your sig pict ( your blue Z on an angle) where should I put focus?

When I stand too far back and zoom in, my car looks too flat in the picture like part of the background... I cant seem to get a good focus throughout the car. Is this me or limitation of my setup?

Nick911sc

22-35 on a crop sensor IMO isn't wide enough compared to a full framed camera. You just don't get that same effect with auto photography.

And i def wouldn't go any higher than F8.

Also, when you zoom it seems flat due to the same reason I suggest using a wider angle lens.

I'm no pro though just some of my observations

kenchan

Nick- thanks for the response. So I need to study the difference between my camera and a full framed camera. If this is just the limitation of my camera im fine with it. I thought it was me doing something wrong.

So wat lens would u recommend for car shots? Basically im only going to be taking shots of my car and mods mostly.

Nick911sc

Well, if you want to get an idea of crop vs full frame think of it this way. Generally speaking the crop factor is 1.6 times. So if you're shooting with the canon kit lens at 18mm that would be equivalent to a full frame camera shooting at roughly 28mm. So the full frame gets a much wider shot than the crop camera without having to have a super wide lens in terms of the mm.

I own a tamron 17-50mm 2.8 and I love it to death as far as zooms go. Sharp as a tack.

But if I were you and I'm assuming you're using the 18-55 kit lens, I'd probably be shooting it at 18mm F/5.6 and then adjust the shot accordingly by moving backwards and forwards instead of zooming. Standing closer with a wider angle will get you way better pictures for cars than zooming into the car further back.