S3 IS Aperture

[Turn]

Ok so I've been reading reviews on lenses and such and one question I've come to ask is:

What are the benefits of having a smaller aperture?

before you answer let me remove two of the ones that I already know:

It increases the depth of field thus having more objects in focus
It reduces the amount of light that the camera recieves

More specifically I want to know if Sharpness is affected by the aperture on the S3 IS as one thing that I don't like when I take portraits is the sharpness, I have experimented with increasing the in-camera sharpness but I don't find it to be much better

[kennysarmy]

Ok so I've been reading reviews on lenses and such and one question I've come to ask is:

What are the benefits of having a smaller aperture?

before you answer let me remove two of the ones that I already know:

It increases the depth of field thus having more objects in focus
It reduces the amount of light that the camera recieves

More specifically I want to know if Sharpness is affected by the aperture on the S3 IS as one thing that I don't like when I take portraits is the sharpness, I have experimented with increasing the in-camera sharpness but I don't find it to be much better


I seem to recall reading that setting a mid aperture gives the best optical results - however this will depend on what you are shooting...ie your photo suits a don't care apperture....

I've found that all my digital camera photos benefit from some post processing sharpening - just a fact of life I'm afraid.

I shot the S3 with the RAW hack and do a little sharpening with the ACR software and finish in CS2 with a fine tweak with the smart sharpen tool.

[JTL]

What are the benefits of having a smaller aperture?
Like all things in life, there are positives and negatives. While you have stated some positives associated with smaller apertures, let me take this opportunity to remind folks of a potential negative associated with small apertures: Diffraction. Light diffraction occurs when the aperture is small because the distance that the innermost rays must travel is less than the distance the outermost rays must travel creating an out-of-phase situation. Once this happens, the frequencies interfere with each other which ultimately has a negative impact on resolution.

There's a nice article on the subject here: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/diffraction-photography.htm

With the S3, your best sharpness will always be at around f/5.

[AdamW]

It reduces the amount of light that the camera recieves

Remember, for any given lighting situation, a smaller aperture means a slower shutter speed. Want to freeze motion? A larger aperture can allow a fast shutter speed. Want to blur moving objects? Stop down the aperture (and be glad the S3 has IS.)