Anybody who is trying to do available light or candid photography understands
that there is often no substitute for wide apertures. As a photojournalist, I
am constantly working in low light situations and in situations when a flash
would either destroy the mood of the light on the subject or the mood of the
subject. Films have gotten faster and better and that is great but we are
still often needing more. A good deal of my work is @ f/2.8 or wider and I
shoot a lot of ISO 800 film often pushing it to 1600 just to get a 1/60th
shutter speed. When shooting in daylight you don't need an f/2.0 aperture to
get the shutter speed that you need but by being able to open up that extra
few stops gives you extra subject-background separation and thus more options.
Also, my f/2.8 lenses will be sharper @ f/5.6 than your f/5.6 lens wide open.
Jonathan Castner
Photojournalist
Denver
