Optical Low Pass / Anti Aliasing Filter being removed from Nikons.. why not Canons?

So I was wondering if anyone could answer why Nikon has chosen to remove the anti aliasing filters from their camera sensors but Canon has not.

I know the whole point of the filter on the sensor was to eliminate moiré and Nikon claims their cameras produce sharper images without the filter on the sensor. Are Nikon cameras not suffering from moiré anymore even with the low pass filters removed? Do Nikons have the automatic ultrasonic sensor cleaners like Canon cameras do (because that ultrasonic cleaner is just part of the low pass filter on Canon cameras)?

Cameras without low pass filter do suffer from moiré, but the higher the resolution, the higher line density you need before the effect shows up. Since Nikon has introduced 36 Megapixel cameras, their limit for starting to suffer from moiré is higher up than it is with, say, an 18 Megapixel camera. They do caution their customers about that you need to take this risk into account, though.

The sensor isn't a naked chip in a camera without lowpass filter, so there's something else in front of the sensor, to protect it. You can just as well shake that, to try to get rid of dust.

apersson850 wrote in post #16823150
Cameras without low pass filter do suffer from moiré, but the higher the resolution, the higher line density you need before the effect shows up. Since Nikon has introduced 36 Megapixel cameras, their limit for starting to suffer from moiré is higher up than it is with, say, an 18 Megapixel camera. They do caution their customers about that you need to take this risk into account, though.

The sensor isn't a naked chip in a camera without lowpass filter, so there's something else in front of the sensor, to protect it. You can just as well shake that, to try to get rid of dust.

Here's a diagram of the D800E's sensor:

http://www.imaging-resource.com …on-d800e/nikon-d800eA.HTM

On the Nikon forums you'll see that eliminating the effects of the AA-filter does increase the chance of moire, so you just have to be more careful of your subjects. SONY's A7r has the same sensor setup and both cameras maintain the "dust-shaker" technology. I have no idea why Canon has not tried this approach, maybe their R&D had a little too much moire to pursue it, or they felt that their chips and software produced sharp enough images to mess with.

Nicholas
www.copperhillimages.c​om

Or they wait for higher mp sensor.

I believe that the 6D doesn't have the OLPF, or a very, very weak one? Sony's latest offerings don't have the low pass filters. Maybe its a trend. I thought that as the resolutions go up, the need for the AA filters go down, but am not sure.

Nigi wrote in post #16823301
Or they wait for higher mp sensor.

Could be, but Nikon's D3300 is 24MP with same nulled-AA setup as the D800E.

Nicholas

TeamSpeed wrote in post #16823330
I believe that the 6D doesn't have the OLPF, or a very, very weak one? Sony's latest offerings don't have the low pass filters. Maybe its a trend. I thought that as the resolutions go up, the need for the AA filters go down, but am not sure.

That is true, but I don't know what the threshold would be for deciding how much resolution is enough to forego the LPF.

Seems Fuji is also doing away with the anti aliasing filters also.

When the resolution of the sensor exceeds what the lens can resolve, then the lens acts as a lowpass filter.

apersson850 wrote in post #16823574
When the resolution of the sensor exceeds what the lens can resolve, then the lens acts as a lowpass filter.

Right, but the camera can't add or remove the LPF based on what lens is connected, so the mfr has to make judgements and forecasts on whether or not to include it.

OK, let me rephrase it like this, then: When the sensor resolution exceeds what any lens available for the camera can resolve, than those lenses will act as the lowpass filter.

apersson850 wrote in post #16823667
OK, let me rephrase it like this, then: When the sensor resolution exceeds what any lens available for the camera can resolve, than those lenses will act as the lowpass filter.

Until the lens comes out that CAN out-resolve the sensor. Zeiss OTUS, anybody?

One other reason might be that Canon has chosen to feature the SLRs video capability more than it's competitors so to get a smoother looking video, Canon increases the AA filters effect.

^ I was about to mention that. Even on Nikons cameras that do have a AA filter the moiré is pretty bad.


Phillip Bloom has a comparison video where he had to add a AA filter on the regular D800.

That could be it. So you suggest Canon should deliver their EOS cameras in video optimized vs. not video optimized models. And then I don't talk about cost differences like those between the 1DC and the 1DX.