Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/17

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Subject: Re: [Leica] What Apertures?
From: n.b.watson@juno.com (Nigel B Watson)
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 13:09:18 EST

I do tend to shoot my Leica M lenses in the f/4-f/5.6 range and my
Nikkors in the f/5.6-f/8 range, simply because I have found that these
are, respectively, the apertures at which the lenses' maximum performance
may be exploited.  Stopping down further is done only for DOF.  I rarely
shoot a lens wide open (except for telephotos on sports and wildlife)
because the limited DOF is usually not what I am after.   Possessing an
f/1 50mm or an f1.4 75-85mm simply to be able to get a shot off in very
dim lighting is of no value to me; I will always opt for faster film
and/or subtle blending of flash with ambient light in order to get at
least enough DOF for my composition to work.  I have tried the super-fast
lenses and I have never been happy with the DOF limitations...shooting in
a nightclub, for example, and having one person's head in focus and
everything else unrecognisably soft, is fine *only* if that person
happens to be my intended subject.  

Regards,
Nigel
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From:	Lee, Ken [SMTP:ken.lee@hbc.com]
>> Sent:	Thursday, December 17, 1998 8:38 AM
>> To:	'leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us'
>> Subject:	RE: [Leica] Luggers are dangerous
>> 
>> Peter,
>> 
>> I think that indirectly, you raise an interesting point. Do the vast
>> majority of Leica owners shoot at middle apetures?

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