I did not use the minimum aperture on this photo. Next to it. f22. Shutter speed would have been a little too slow if I used f32 to shoot hand held.

It is a misconception that stopping down increases clarity. It doesn't. As Allen Hopkins put it, the best way to get a photo is "f8 and be there." I usually never shoot above f16 or f22 and that's with medium format. With digital, I'm comfortable between f5/6 and f8 and I have a large sensor.

When you reduce the aperture size, diffraction will start and image quality will be reduced.

Those of us who are very old and started with film know this. You control your exposure by using different speed films. But then we used to think it was fun to shoot people posed so it looked like a tree was growing out of their head. We weren't Ansel Adams. :)

Btw, I am not putting down the challenge. It was fun to actually test this and see what kind of image the Mamiya would get at f22 since I rarely use it. f22 not the Mamiya.

Other people "stopping down" can be seen here.