[LRFlex] Re: Are comparision 'tests' valid?
- From: Douglas Herr <telyt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 11:46:29 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Scott Gardner <scottgee1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Computer screen resolution is significantly lower than that of a good
> printing system. On more than a few
> occasions, people who have posted images to the 'net say something along the
> lines of, "If you think this looks
> good, you should see the print!"
>
> Since most of my own work finds its final destination as in print form, I
> wondering if what I see on screen is a
> good predictor of what I'll see on paper.
For an un-cropped image I agree with you to a large degree. The cropped bits
of images in Julien's test show a significant difference in detail rendition.
Whether this will show up on a print is debatable and will depend on how large
the print is among other things.
OTOH, several people have written and commented on the photos I've made with my
recently-acquired Canon FD 400mm f/2.8 L, how these photos are not as crisp as
my other photos made with Leica lenses. My experience with prints in hand is
that when the photo isn't as crisp on the screen it's also not as crisp in the
print.
Before comparisons like this were made, it was argued by many that the lens
resolution doesn't matter because the low-pass filter will "dumb-down" the lens
so that all lenses will be equal. Now we're seeing that this assumption
doesn't hold in these tests. I'm also seeing that some people can tell the
difference in image quality from screen-resolution .jpg files that translates
to print quality. Even if there was no correlation between the quality of the
uncropped screen image and the print, the cropped image sections suggest that
the 50 'cron will give more image detail that the Canon lens under the test
conditions. In many situation sthis might not matter; when I'm pushing the
limits, for example large prints or cropped images, I'd rather be using the
lens than can put out more detail and IMHO the crops from the full image give
me a clear idea which lens is more likely to produce the detail I want.
Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com
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