I know you're here so help me out...

[Noe]

Alrighty then,

I notice that many of you get really sharp photos. Aside from the glass, what settings (f-stop, aperture, and ISO) do you use to get very sharp pictures?

Lets take the Canon Kit lense and the 50mm 1.8, what settings would you use to maximize the sharpeness of the subject. No Photoshop, just in camera.

(I wonder if my legally blind vision has anything to do with it, or maybe my lazy eye)

Thanks in advance.

Noe

[LoungeLizard]

Best if around the "middle" about f8 usually gives you best results.

[brad]

The 50mm f/1.8 seems to give me sharp images up through f/8, even beyond, including the wide open settings.. I guess that makes sense, especially given the 1.6 cropping factor.

Also, low light situations will make your images less sharp.. especially with digital.... so make sure you have plenty of light in situations where sharpness is critical.

[Steelsun]

Also it all depends on several factors: Distance to subject, lighting, stability (handheld vs tripod and includes timer and mirror lockup), atmosphere (fog/smog/haze/dusty vs. clear), etc.

[ndsimm]

I know sometimes it may go without saying, but ISO plays a big part to me...the lower the setting the better when I can get away with it....

[Nevyn]

In no particular order:

1) Use a tripod (or monopod or other support if a tripod is too inconvenient) unless you are shooting at very high speeds for the lens length or you just can' do it (some people say use a support at all times)
2) Use as low an ISO as you can get away with (already mentioned)
3) Most lenses hit their 'maximum' sharpness (or best or whatever you want to call it) at 1 to 2 stops above wide open so for most lenses this is f5.6 - 8 (anyone else remember hearing the "f8 and be there" advice for photographers from som years ago?) If you stop down too much, past 16 or so, other chromatic and diffractive errors can start to creep in (according to some of the detailed lens reviews online anyway - never noticed it myself but I don't often shoot that closed)
4) I know you said 'apart from the glass' but good glass really does help! (the Canon 50 1.8 is normally a nice sharp lens)
5) I know you also said 'no photshop' but I'm going to ignore that as well (!) - Learn how to post-process to get the best sharpness (I'm pretty bad at this so any pointers would be appreciated if anyone is out there reading this!) - very few if any of the images you see are straight out of the camera (digital anyway), chances are they've been tweaked for sharpness if nothing else
6) Use Mirror Lock Up (if your camera has it) for longer exposures and / or when you're shooting something that isn't going to move on you (landscapes seem an obvious example - not usually too speedy!)

A little knowledge (mine in this case) is a dangerous thing...........

[Nevyn]

Try :

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-...?msg_id=007iOR

[Scott-Tx]

refraction and diffraction dictate that 2-3 stops from wide open are the sharpest for any lens. there are some exceptions to this, some lenses are designed to work best wide-open, but generally, stop-down 2 to 3 stops.

want sharper pictures, use a tripod and a cable release. the speed of the film has no direct effect on this... grain, yup. sharpness, nope. however, faster film will allow you to shoot with a faster shutter speed, which will yield sharper photos in there's a breeze or you're shooting hand-held.

if you have to shoot handheld, never use a shutter speed slower than the inverse of the focal length. for instance, if you're shooting with 100mm lens, never shoot hand held any slower than 1/100 of a second.