1.6 factor and softness

[sudaplatov]

This question is mostly for Pekka.
I spoke with one guy recently and he
told me that softness of D60/D30-output
is explained by 1.6 multiplier factor.
So in future, this guy said, linear sharpen
and relevant actions will be obsolete.
I didn't find anything to reply.
Is it true?

[Pekka]

"1.6 factor" is nothing but a "cropped" area from the center of what lens delivers. Lens and the user are the biggest issue in creating sharp photos, not cropping (before or after). Maybe that guy thought that if pixels are "magnified" to some "35mm" size after you take the shot they get interpolated and thus softer? The center lens area is captured by sensor, that's it.

But it is true that you have 1.0x 6mp and 1.6x 6mp camera the lens is more important in 1.6x camera because it reads same amount of data from smaller area of the glass - if the glass is not good enough you may see difference. But as the center part of the lens is always also the sharpest part, the issue is not serious one even on cheap lenses.

Bigger sensors which capture the whole lens area cost so much more we won't see them in new cameras - in maybe in two years or so.

Actually, I'm sure when we get 1.0x sensors, people start complaining about edge blurryness. That's why spending money on best lenses is not a waste with D30. Think ahead.

Softness in all digital cameras overall is a result of "guessing work" of color filter array and demosaicing algorithms. Each pixel in sensor is _not_ RGB color - each pixel color is calculated by color filter array and after that the result is demosaiced (BTW: Sigma's new chip tries to avoid all this). Result of all this is that every camera in the market sharpens internally - but Canon RAW format is only format where you can see the true pixel data without _any_ sharpening.

[sudaplatov]

Pekka, many thanx.

[reittila]

Pekka wrote:
Result of all this is that every camera in the market sharpens internally - but Canon RAW format is only format where you can see the true pixel data without _any_ sharpening.

A bit off the topic, but among other things Canon made a very wise decision here, because all internal processing in camera puts load on camera's processor and normally internal processing results lower quality pictures compared to the result of the same done for example with PhotoShop.
That's because the internal processing ia always a compromise between speed and quality.