What's your favorite apeture?

I prefer f/2 to f/4, rarely beyond f/8 (on my RFs; with my MF gear and landscape I use f/16 most of the time...).
And I also think that bokeh is important - not as much when it is OK to good - then few people will notice it; but bad bokeh, e.g. from zoom lenses, will also be noticed even by non-photographers, can really detract from a subject in focus, and maybe even ruin a picture... And the smooth bokeh of a CZJ 180/2.8 or a J-9 evne makes it worth taking pictures just because of the OOF areas!
But then I like tasting wines, too (hey, I'm from a wine region, my father makes Riesling and Grüner Veltliner himself...) ;)

Roman
 
On a sunny day, I've always been forced to use f8 (because of 1/1000 top shutter speed). For using 75mm or 90mm lens, I prefer f4. :)
 
I have switched to using the RF's over the SLR's because I prefer to shoot wide-open and close-up. I find it easier to focus the RF's at F1.4 and faster than it is to focus an f1.2 or F1.4 on the SLR's. Favorite F-Stop? Wide-Open, then change the lens to stop down.
 
I agree, RF's are easier to focus than SLR's esp. in low light.

Nice portrait Doug!

It seems the folks using wide apetures are also taking more portraits (that is true in my case), maybe the reason for that preference.

Todd
 
I like f4 sometimes, its generally a stop or two down from wide-open, gives you reasonably narrow DOF but not too narrow.

In the attached picture, the girl's hair and her music stand (bottom left) are OOF as are the musicians in the background, but f4 allows both the bassoons and the bassoonists in the middle plane to be in focus. At f2 or even f2.8 you probably wouldn't get that effect.
 
f8 if it's too small then open it up to f4.5 or if it's bright enough and I need dof then I go down to f16, but mostly f8
 
WFO, as often as possible.

Unless it's landscapes.

Stopping down "commonizes" lenses, making them all great, I like the challenge of making a picture look good in the region of curves that define the behavior of the lens with the most glass available.

And I don't complain about out of focus shots, just motion blurred ones.

:)
 
I love wide open... sometimes to the detriment of my photos... (slightly OOF etc)
F1.4 on my Pentax SLR, and F1.7 on my Oly & Yashica....
The 1/2000 shutter speed of the Pentax makes me hanker after a Bessa... (I suppose I could use slower film more often...)

-Nick
 
I enjoy low light so I shoot open from F1.2 to F2.8 with the Hexar RF + 50/1.2 and F2.0 to F2.8 with the Hexar Classic. Even in daylight, I prefer some OOF areas and the 1/4000 top shutter speed of my Hexar RF makes this easy as you can see here.

F1.2 or lower can be dangerous close up with very little in focus and as I'm new to RF, I've taken plenty of photos with in focus eyes but not much else ;)
 
For me it depends on the camera/lens I'm using. I generally shoot the "sweet spot" which occurs between f/5.6 and f/11.
 
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