How Diffraction Robs Your Photos of Sharpness

Diffraction is a fundamental physical property, and no matter how expensive your lenses are or how advanced their designs might be, there is no hiding from it. If you are unfamiliar with diffraction, this fantastic video tutorial will show you why it happens and why you should be aware of it in your own work.

Coming to you from DPReview TV, this great video will teach you about diffraction, the basics of how it works, and why it is an issue all photographers should be aware of. Diffraction is a fundamental physical property, which means there is no way around it no matter what you do. It arises as you start using narrow apertures, which is why, for example, you will almost never see professional photographers using an aperture like f/22 or f/32 on something like a full frame camera. This is tempting to do when you want to get more depth of field, but eventually, you start sacrificing sharpness, which begins to lead to a noticeable softness in the images, which is why you should sometimes resort to a technique like focus stacking or using the hyperfocal distance instead of an ultra-narrow aperture. Check out the video above for the full rundown.