The right apeture?? I need serious help

Hello again, just when you thought you were starting to understand!!! I am constantly reading post here as I am so new to this site but one constant I keep seeing is peoples focus (sorry for the pun) on apeture. Is this the most important element of a photo? Also when I read about lenses people are always talking about the best range and area where the lens takes the best photo. Is this true? I thought you would get the same results with any apeture and shutter setting as long as you adjusted both accordingly. EX- I have the 18-55 kit lens. I have seen lots of post that this lens takes great photos at around F8. Why is this, and does that mean the photos at another F# are not as good.

I am getting a new lens this week, will I have to go through each apeture setting until I find the right one. Sorry to be so long winded.

HELP

Pretty much all lenses have a "sweet spot" where they produce their best results. Most are weakest at the extremes of maximum or minimum aperture.
Some, like the 50mmf1.4 are just fine at maximum aperture, as long as lighting conditions are right. Most start to degrade at really small apertures due to diffraction.

Aperture is a big topic because it does so many things. The bigger the aperture, the faster your shutter speed can be. It also controls DOF (depth of field). Larger apertures also give you a brighter viewfinder and on some cameras can also provide better AF (auto focus). Most lenses are their sharpest when stopped down, usually 1-2 stops. This means adjusting the lens from its largest opening. For the kit lens in your question this places the kit lens at its sharpest around that f/8 number. For an f/2.8 lens it becomes f/5.6.

You can get the same exposure by adjusting either, but not the same results.
Each affects the picture in a different way - the shutter freezes or blurs movement, and your choice of aperture affects how much is in focus in front/behind your principal subject.

you can up the iso to give you more room to play with .
Rob.

which new lens is it you are going to get?

A little light reading...

http://www.uscoles.com​/fstop.htm