For the past months I have set my X-T5 16/80 and X-T5016/50 at f5.6 for general daily walkabout photos and am very pleased, In post processing using PhotoShop Elements 2025 I use background blur to get the bokeh I like to get good sharp photos which have nice bokeh.
Are any other forum members a fan of f5.6 for general daily photos?
Nothing wrong with f/5.6. In general I find a lot of Fuji lenses are pretty optimal at that aperture (maybe stop down a little more for landscape use). Not only are images super sharp with native glass there but you also get a sufficient depth of field if you want to capture some context along with whatever your subject is.
I was having fun doing some good old zone focusing last weekend with the Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 Ai-s (plus speed booster) on my X-T5. I just set the aperture to f/11 and the focus such that everything from ~1-2 m to infinity were "in focus" and was quite happy with my results (no focus fine-tuning required for street-style photos).
I like shallow depth of field as much as the next millenial but that's not always the right choice. Choosing aperture based on what story you're trying to tell is always the way to go and f/5.6 on APS-C is a pretty good general purpose choice!
Before going to the new 16-55, I shot with the X-T5/16-80 combo quite a lot. My use for that combo was typically landscape with a desire for large depth of field. So initially I used f8 quite a bit. Then I noticed that my f7.1 shots seemed a little sharper so I move that direction when possible. No testing, just a minor observation based on viewing. But it could easily be the case that sharpness is best from 5.6 - 7.1.
5.6 is generally the widest I'll go when shooting landscape unless I have no choice. Generally between 5.6 and 11. Everything else I shoot isn't impacted by the minor difference in image quality from the differences in aperature. ... so I'm generally as wide as possible
