Pixel "zones?" Sharpness issues?

[Scott99999]

Hello,

I work as a texture artist and I use the G2 to photograph surface textures. One thing I've noticed when photographing sand, dirt, or any other particle-like or repeating surface is the presence of many straight lines in the zoomed view of a photo. It's as though the pixels are split into "zones" marked by a defined boundary. There are straight lines all over the place greater than the pixel level.

Has anyone else seen this? It makes it difficult to make my textures seamless, because there always appears to be these small borders and seams that I've missed, but I'm realizing that they're actually part of the original image. I'm wondering if it's normal, abnormal, or an artifact of the JPEG compression (I use the setting with the lowest compression).

Lastly, I am often questioning the G2's sharpness. I know this has been discussed...but it seems to me that my photos always seem a little bit "soft" or "off" if viewed at 80% on a 1024x768 monitor (In other words, functionally less than half of 100% resolution, or around 40% full size). Since I don't print, I have chalked this up to the fact that I am looking at them large and the softness is just the pixels...but it's not quite right. I always feel cross-eyed looking at them at that resolution (and I have a sharp, $1100, 22" monitor).

This is "out of the camera" and not just after the images have been JPEG'd a few times.

[Don Ellis]

Scott,

You should be shooting in RAW rather than JPG to eliminate compression in the camera. And any image viewed at other that 50% or 100% is going to look "off." It's a function of the computer, not the image.

If you're an artist, you should be manipulating the best image you can get from the camera (RAW in this case) in Photoshop where you have precise control over light and shadow and sharpness and SIZE. If you want to view something good on a 1024x768 monitor, make a 1024x768 image.

[sasa]

Scott...

I use the G2 in a similar way... to capture design elements for layout work.

I shoot in RAW, and Don's right... there's much more you can then do with it in PS. Those lines are traces of JPEG at work - dividing up the image into smaller areas, then working its compression 'magic' (?).

Incidentally, on the occasion when the image is 'soft' at 100%, it's usually because I haven't steadied the camera properly - and as we know, the G2 is sensitive to that.

One downside to shooting in RAW, though, is that you can't tell right away if the image you've captured IS sharp. When you replay and zoom in on the G2's LCD you don't actually see the RAW file itself... it's showing you a lower-res JPEG thumbnail. In other words, you'll see fuzziness and artifacts when you zoom in on ANY RAW image in the LCD... even if it's not there on the real file. You'll only know if it's right once you've converted the RAW file and brought it into PS, using the plugin.

s