Interesting study and it got me curious. This graph represents only the use of my Nikon D810 from 2014 to present.Scientific value of this study is of course zero, because not all lenses in use are capable to 1/3 f-stop scale. But interesting study for me
All of my lenses are f/2.8, which is fast for landscape photography. I didn't buy them to shoot at 2.8 most of the time; I bought them so I could be relatively sure I would be able to capture the photos I wanted at even lower light levels. I bought them because most lenses don't provide the best quality at the largest or smallest apertures. The wider the aperture range, the better your opportunities for acceptable sharpness at 1 or 2 stops from the lens' capability. The reason so few of my landscapes are shot beyond f/11 is because details aren't as sharp (although smaller apertures do offer more opportunities for special effects). Part of what you see in my graph for images shot below f/5.6 are landscape/townscape, but also represent my attempt to stay involved in people photography (that was my focus in the 1980s & 90s). However, most of my portrait shots are at least one stop up from wide open simply because there's better detail in the eyes at 3.2 than 2.8. When I want more background blur, I just use a longer focal length and position my model farther away from other objects in the photo.If you've paid x amount of £ for a very fast lens then why would you use it any way except wide open?
I'll add my two pen'orth. If you've paid x amount of £ for a very fast lens then why would you use it any way except wide open? On the other hand, in my experience , shooting wide open is not the be all and end all. Quite often the lighting requires that 1.2 fast lens but what you lose quite often is any context as everything else is just a huge mish mash of ugly blur. However, it really does work in some cases. The trick is to find the most open you can shoot whilst retaining some background detail ..... well anyway
What I love about Leica Q is how it doesn't totally go bad at f/16, it gets a dreamlike "coating".I might be over-cautious of diffraction so I rarely go beyond f/5.6
I'll add my two pen'orth. If you've paid x amount of £ for a very fast lens then why would you use it any way except wide open? .......