ClarkVision.com
Clarkvision Articles
http://www.clarkvision.com/articles
R. N. Clark's Email (is encoded to prevent spam):
rnclark at qwest.net
http://www.clarkvision.com/articles
R. N. Clark's Email (is encoded to prevent spam):
rnclark at qwest.net
Lighting, Composition and Subject
Wildlife Action Photography: Autofocus Tracking with Digital Cameras.
(Sept 28, 2008.)
Night and Low Light Photography with Digital Cameras
Large Digital Mosaics as a Substitute for Large Format Film
FILM versus DIGITAL Discussion and Executive Summary.
How Many Megapixels do you need? Plus Other Factors in Choosing a Digital Camera.
Digital Cameras: Does Pixel Size Matter? Factors in Choosing a Digital Camera Good digital cameras are photon noise limited. This sets basic properties of sensor performance. (Updated January 3, 2010)
The Megapixel Myth, Image WOW Factor, and Digital Images. Technical factors in making large prints with impact, and the myth of the "Megapixel Myth." (Updated March 6, 2010)
Crop Factor and Digital Cameras
The f/ratio Myth and Digital Cameras
The Depth-of-Field Myth and Digital Cameras
Why Do DSLR's Have Mirrors? (Predictive Autofocus)
Changing Lenses on DSLR Cameras to Minimize Dust Contamination
Compact Flash Card Speed How fast a Digital Camera can write to a compact flash memory card seems to depend on how full the card is. (January 1, 2007)
Choosing an LCD Monitor for Photo-Editing/Viewing.
Digital Camera Raw Converter Shadow Detail and Image Editor Limitations: Factors in Getting Shadow Detail in Images The performance of raw converters in how noise and shadow detail gets recorded varies a lot. (April 16, 2006)
Unsharp mask experiments to improve apparent image detail.
(Nov 24, 2002)
Image Restoration Using Adaptive Richardson-Lucy Iteration
Improving image detail with image restoration methods.
Digital Camera Raw versus Jpeg Conversion Losses Digital Camera Raw versus Jpeg Conversion Losses. (February 3, 2005)
Digital Camera Sensor Performance Summary (Updated July 14, 2010)
Dynamic Range of an Image 1: How many bits do you need? (Intensity Detail of an Image)
The Exposure Latitude of a Digital Camera and Comparison to Film
The Signal-to-Noise of Digital Camera images and Comparison to Film. Digital cameras are in some ways at or near the theoretical limit of what it possible, and have much higher signal-to-noise than film. This page also includes tables of digital camera sensor data, including pixel size, full well capacities, and read noise. (Updated September 16, 2006)
Digital Cameras: Counting Photons, Photometry, and Quantum Efficiency (September 3, 2007)
Procedures for Evaluating Digital Camera Sensor Noise, Dynamic Range, and Full Well Capacities; Canon 1D Mark II Analysis (Updated August 26, 2007)
Sensor Noise, Dynamic Range, and Full Well Analysis |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canon 1D Mark IV, Feb. 2010 | Canon 1D Mark II, Aug. 2007 | Canon 7D, Dec, 2009 | Canon S70, Sept. 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nikon D50, May 2006 | Nikon D200, Sept. 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Note: sensor analyses for other cameras can be found toward the end of the Digital Camera Sensor Performance Summary web page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Digital Cameras and Long Exposure Times: Noise and Dark Current Comparisons (Sept. 1, 2006)
Notes on the resolution, ISO equivalent, focal length, and other details of the human eye.
There are conflicting reports on what the resolution of the eye is.
The main apparent conflicts are due to different definitions used
in scientific papers, but there really is agreement, and the eye's
resolution is higher than often stated. Similar conflicting literature
exists on the eye's focal length and other details. (December 26, 2007).
Information on LASIK eye surgery
(from the perspective of a photographer and astronomer viewing through telescopes).
Evaluating Polarizing Filters.
Photographic Filters as Lens Protectors.
Lens sharpness testing relative to each other and removing the effects of different focal lengths. For example: does adding a teleconverter degrade sharpness? January 28, 2005.
A Photographic Image Quality Test Using the Moon Check your camera and processing skills against this standardized Moon imaging test. See differences between top DSLR versus low cost point and shoot camera equipment. (May 2006)
Photograph the Moon with different Lenses:
Image Quality Tests of Various Lenses Using the Moon.
Illustration of the sharpness obtained out of camera with no post processing
sharpening applied and with post processing. Various lenses are illustrated.
Compare to your images of the Moon to see relative sharpness.
(June 17, 2010)
A test between Canon 100-400mm L IS, Sigma 170-500mm, and Canon 75-300mm IS zoom lenses.
Experiences with teleconverters and image quality. August 28, 2004.
Film versus Digital Cameras: How many Megapixels?
This article shows the digital megapixel equivalent of film as a function
of film speed and film format from 35mm to medium and large format.
(May 11, 2002).
Information on scanning detail from film, as well as comparisons
between film and the new digital camera technology:
Image Detail and Scanning Film.
How many dpi are needed to record all the detail? Should sampling be at the Nyquist frequency or higher? It must be higher!
Scanner comparisons: flat bed scanners versus a drum scan for large format film. (October 28, 2005)
Experiments with Pixels Per Inch (PPI) on
Printed Image Sharpness
If you thought images printed at 300 ppi on your inkjet printer are the
best, read this. It is not always true.
(July 3, 2005).
The digital print advantage over traditional printing methods.
Various stories related to photography
www.scantips.com: scanning tips, except note that conclusions on these pages are sometimes different than on this site, like the maximum DPI you need to scan all detail on a photographic print.
http://www.normankoren.com/Tutorials/MTF.html More info on MTF--very detailed--reaches similar conclusions as here.
Down-sampling examples. by Bart van der Wolf. There can be quite a difference in the detail in a downsampled image. This page illustrates the results from various methods.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/filmdig.htm
An article by Ken Rockwell on film
versus digital, with similar conclusions.
Ken goes into more detail on advantages and disadvantages of each medium.
I disagree with some of Ken's statements on digital's dynamic range,
but everything else I do agree. Dynamic range issues are different than
digital's maximum signal ability. With digital one needs to expose to
not clip the highlights, and there will still be dynamic range and enough
signal-to-noise ratio to get image detail in dark shadows.
R. N. Clark's Email (is encoded to prevent spam):
rnclark at qwest.net
First Published 2000.
Last updated July 14, 2010
A resolution test target imaged with Fujichrome Velvia
and a D60 6-megapixel digital camera
shows graphic differences in the Film versus
Digital Cameras: How many Megapixels
debate.