You may not see it in this small size picture, but only one eye is sharp. Razor thin depth of field may seem nice, but before you realize one eye is sharp, and the other is not. There are some other things to keep in mind regarding large apertures.
But I think these are the most important ones. You probably would have guessed these reasons, and perhaps you can come up with a few more. Making an optimal use of the auto focus capabilities of your camera.Being able to shoot faster shutter speeds in darker environments.Shooting in dark environments and still capturing enough light.Shooting a minimum depth of field with a nice bokeh.Yes, I admit, these lenses are not always the best performing lenses available, but I did not want any other lens. So, should you also invest in large aperture lenses that have f/2.8 or larger?īefore I try to answer this, I would like to sum up some reasons when you can benefit from a large aperture. These are amazing pieces of engineering, which all have their ups and downs. Every fixed focus lens I bought had an aperture of f/1.4 and I even choose to buy a f/1.2 lens also. Since that time every zoom lens I bought had a f/2.8 aperture, except the Canon EF 17-40mm, which has only f/4.
I wanted to have that f/2.8, no matter what. It would have saved me a lot of money, money I could have used to invest in another nice lens. I could have chosen a f/4 lens also, which is significant lighter, and half as expensive. I was so proud having this lens, enjoying not only shooting with it, but also the reactions from fellow photographers who were perhaps more wise by spending not all their money on these really expensive lenses.