[fevbusch]

I shot a bunch of shots of daisies with my Sigma 50mm 2.8 ex macro lens.
I tried for a change to shoot some manually but can't tell from exif which ones. The attached , along with about 2 others, showed f22 which is an aperture I wouldn't normally use in my AV mode. Could this be the one I manually focused. Also, when I tried to sharpen it in Adobe unsharp mask couldn't be sharpened because it was already fully sharpened, apparently. Am I right in guessing this attached shot was manually focused (or, how can I tell). Help, please, Freddy

---

Last edited by fevbusch; 04-21-2007 at 10:33 AM.

[Mike Cash]

That looks so nice I'd go ahead and tell everybody I manually focussed it, whether I did or not.

[fevbusch]

Thanks for the very nice compliment, Mike. Regards, Freddy

[SpecialK]

Do you not have Pentax Photo Browser? (Came with my K100D) It indicates the focusing method (AF vs Manual).

I use it to create the exif data list that I then copy and paste into a master list for reference.

Edit > Select all
Tools > Save data list

[fevbusch]

Hey, thanks, Special K. I usually work with Picasa. I loaded Photo browser and sure enough, found my manuals. You know what I learned?...My sharpest photos were those that were shot at F22 (like the sample I had attached). Apparently the F22 deep dof, along with matrix metering, is a very sharp aperture for this Sigma lens. Am I making sense with that conclusion? Freddy

[SpecialK]

Hey, thanks, Special K. I usually work with Picasa. I loaded Photo browser and sure enough, found my manuals. You know what I learned?...My sharpest photos were those that were shot at F22 (like the sample I had attached). Apparently the F22 deep dof, along with matrix metering, is a very sharp aperture for this Sigma lens. Am I making sense with that conclusion? Freddy

Hi Freddy:

I'm glad my tip helped. It's the same tip that help someone else, and as far as I know, it's my only useful post :-)

It used to be common thinking that the "best" aperture is a couple stops down from wide open, perhaps around f8. Hard to say nowadays. However, people warn against diffraction caused by a tiny aperture.

[SCGushue]

Hey, thanks, Special K. I usually work with Picasa. I loaded Photo browser and sure enough, found my manuals. You know what I learned?...My sharpest photos were those that were shot at F22 (like the sample I had attached). Apparently the F22 deep dof, along with matrix metering, is a very sharp aperture for this Sigma lens. Am I making sense with that conclusion? Freddy

Fred,

I hate to burst your bubble but technically f22 would not be among your sharpest apertures on your lens. Past f11 there is defraction, which in theory will cause imaging and sharpness problems to worsen. None the less, it is possible to get sharp(er) appearing images becasue there is greater DOF and the zone of sharpness (being relative here) is greater... and therefore your images have a greater chance of being in focus. The falloff after F16 can be fairly steep but in many instances the results can still be quite acceptable and even quite good depending on the lens.

I like your image and the composition. I only answered because you asked

Stephen

[fevbusch]

Thanks for your input, guys. Really appreciated. Regards, Freddy