Amazing…..Simply Amazing!
More on the removal of a Low Pass Filter, and no I’m not suggesting you do it yourself!!!! Please don’t do that! I just want to make the point that we are experiencing in technology. Now with more manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon, this is just one more design change that gives us a big advantage. Look at the image below pulled from the image above.
This crop is the equivalent of a 16X9 from a 68X45!!! The point is simple, if image quality, especially if resolution is high on your wish list, this is something that matters! So Nikon offer5s this in the D800e and now the D7100, other out there do it too!
It is exciting when folks like us that have been on a life long quest for the best possible images this is a development that deserves our continued attention!
I will give you a full report when I get my hands on a Nikon D7100!
Blessings,
the pilgrim
* Remember you can click on these images and see them much larger in all there glory!
This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2013 at 10:40 pm
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Image quality and resolution are so important to me that I almost always use a tripod with my D7000. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts after shooting with the D7100. Just read Moose’s first thoughts about it after using it in Costa Rica. Very interesting. So I’ll look forward to reading more. I didn’t even know my camera has a low pass filter. Anyhow, thanks for the great photos as an example to help understand this technology.
Yes, we will see…….
I’m “the camera guy” around my town so people ask me questions. I’m hearing “why would you want to use digital zoom” about the D7100’s 1.3x crop of DX mode. I’m not well-versed in the technology enough to explain it, but I know it isn’t just a case of digital zoom vs. optical zoom when we are talking about the 1.3 x crop mode.
My imagination tells me it’s much more magical than that, but my imagination clearly isn’t a technical resource. I’m thinking of this in two ways.
1. The reason people don’t like “digital zoom” on point-and-shoot cameras is that, to my reckoning, it takes the optical data and crops it in, but then expands the picture to full size. For example, if it takes 1280×800 pictures optically and you set it to digital zoom it will crop into the 1280×800 file it created to get to the digital zoom area you set it to. Then it extracts maybe a 640×480 picture which would be just like if you took the picture and cropped that section out yourself on your computer. But it doesn’t output a 640×480 picture. The camera expands that 640×480 file into the same space as the original file and creates a 1280×800 picture out of the 640×480 data which blows up the pixels and makes it look bad.
2. That is not what the D7100 does in 1.3x crop mode, or what a D800 does when you use it in DX format mode. What these cameras do is take the picture with the lens (“optical zoom”) using the smaller portion of the sensor. They are still using the light from the glass to create the image, as opposed to digitally manipulating the image in the camera’s computer after taking the picture. This results in a full resolution RAW file directly from the sensor using the area of the sensor that you choose, not a digitally cropped version of the full size sensor image. So, in the case of the D7100 you get a 15 MP picture instead of a 24 MP picture, and it appears that the lens actually zoomed in further because of the field of view change. You essentially are flipping the switch and turning it from a 24 MP camera to a 15 MP camera, not taking a 24 MP picture and cropping it.
Does anyone haunting these comments know if that is an accurate assessment? The reason I think this is how it works is that the lens projects a circle onto the sensor. The diameter of the circle is designed to kind of fit just right over the corners of the rectangle sensor (or film frame). So the camera captures a center rectangular portion of the circle of light coming in from the camera. The crop modes merely uses a rectangle that is deeper into the big circle of light instead of at the edges. So you are still getting the full image quality, not an “edited in camera” digital manipulation of a picture the camera took using the full sized rectangle.
The advantages to 1.3x crop mode are:
1. The data is smaller in the camera, allowing the camera to bump up to 7 frames per second because it doesn’t have as huge of a file to process.
2. The final image is smaller allowing you to copy it to your computer faster and open it in Lightroom faster.
3. If you don’t have a super-fast computer that can chug through 24 MP files, when you are in Lightroom your computer doesn’t get bogged down as much while editing the smaller 15 MP file.
4. Your original files are smaller on your hard drive, and your final edited images are smaller on your hard drive so you don’t need as much storage.
5. The final edits are smaller so they are easier to post online or send to people.
6. For purists who like to “get it right the first time” and don’t like to crop their images in post, they have two composition options for every focal length – a composition with the full sensor and a composition with the partial sensor using the deeper field of view. This makes your lenses more flexible and gives you options if you are limited in mobility to focus and compose with your feet.
An impressive share! I’ve just foawrrded this onto a coworker who has been doing a little research on this. And he actually ordered me lunch because I found it for him lol. So allow me to reword this . Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending time to talk about this matter here on your website.