Resolving power of 1Ds & D60?

[Rayz]

I've seen many comments on various forums to the effect that cameras like the 1Ds and D60 have reached the limit of 'good' lens resolution, and that ordinary consumer grade lenses such as the Canon 28-135mm IS zoom are not really up to scratch for such cameras.

In fact, I've occasionally come across postings jeering at people who have been sighted sporting a brand new 1Ds attached to a Tamron zoom or the Canon 28-135 zoom.

I can't help feeling there's a great misconception out there as to the true resolving power of these cameras.

All the tests I've done with a number of different quality lenses with the D60 (which actually has higher resolving power than the 1Ds in terms of pixels per mm) indicate that these cameras would be far from being able to capture the fine detail from really good lenses such as the Canon 50mm F1.4, 85mm F1.2 and 200mm F1.8 etc.

It's my understanding, from tests I've carried out, that the D60 (and by implication the 1Ds) reduces all fine lenses to one common denominator of roughly the quality of the 28-135mm IS zoom.

Does anyone else share this opinion or does anyone have facts to the contrary?

[Hawkeye12]

from what i see on my monitor, they look pretty much the same.
print and size of prints from a photo printer is where the 1Ds will outshine the D60.
but for what Canon is charging, it better be.

[Rayz]

Hawkeye12,
That's right. The 1Ds gives a wider angle with any given focal length, but does the L glass outshine the consumer grade lens with either of these cameras?

[Hawkeye12]

you will probably notice it more on the D60 than you would the 1Ds.
i have L glass and consumer glass (namely the 24-85) and my shots with the D60 are slightly sharper with the L glass.
the 24-85 gets used a lot in well lit scenes, and quite frankly, i use very little USM to adjust my pictures.

[Rayz]

Hawkeye12 wrote:
my shots with the D60 are slightly sharper with the L glass.



How much slightly sharper? Are you sure you're not just imagining it? I took a few test shots of a test chart yesterday comparing the Canon T-SE 90mm with the 90mm setting on the 28-135 zoom. I expected it would be slightly sharper. It wasn't. All my lenses look equally sharp at their optimum aperture. Sometimes there's a slight variation in contrast before tweaking the levels in Photoshop, but I'm getting a very clear impression the D60's sensor is the limiting factor.