Well, the best shots may be around f8, but only for some circumstances. For example:


This is one of my photos, shot at f8. If I had used a still-sharp f/5.6 or f/4, I wouldn't have that nasty BG and would have been able to use lower ISO and faster shutter. Sound good?


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The other reason is that some types of photography require fast lenses. You can't shoot in candlelight with f/8 without using ISO 1,000,000.


And finally, many lenses are sharp wide open. Take my 300 f/4: I only stop down for DoF, not for sharpness.


my 2¢


brendan