The default persp has a couple different settings than the camera created through the create menu, like the resolution gate and visibility. You can tweak the camera settings via it's attributes like any other object in Maya, you can even save presets (that little button in the upper right of the attribute editor). If you're rendering with Mental Ray then there are even lenses that can be attached for more effects.

I don't know if there is an "ideal" in terms of settings, I think depends on the scene at hand. However, I try to leave the persp camera for scene setup and create cameras for rendering, that way I can lock them into position and generally not care about the position of my persp camera. I have a HUD button to look through selected objects so repositioning my render camera(s) isn't a pain.