Digital BW, The Print

> > Digital imaging sensors, at this point in time, are the great
> equalizer.  A
> > Leica or Canon or Zeiss lense will NOT give you a better image
> than a Sigma
> > lense with a digital sensor.  Yes, some characteristics MAY be
> > noticeable...but from my experience (and I've been using
> digital cameras for
> > 10 years now), they aren't.
> >
> > The digital sensors require far less lp/mm than film does, since digital
> > sensors have much larger sensing elements than film does...and
> therefore,
> > the extra resolution is actually a deficit.  Through the use of
> a low pass
> > filter over the digital sensor, only so much lp/mm will
> actually get to the
> > sensor, therefore rendering the higher lp/mm lenses, well, basically,
> > useless.
> >
> > Austin
>
> A preliminary review of the Canon D60 by Phil Askey suggests otherwise for
> the newer cameras with 6 MP sensors (see the paragraph titled "Lenses" on
> the following page:
> http://www.dpreview.com/articles/canond60/page3.asp
> He indicates that high quality lenses may be required to get the
> best image
> quality from this camera - more so than with the D30.
>
> Carl

Hi Carl,

Thanks for the link!  It looks to be a very comprehensive review, I'll take
the time to read it later.

From what I read there, and since I don't know the actual lenses in
question, I'd say it means you just can't use low quality lenses.  Still,
there is a cutoff point where a better resolution lense just won't do you
any good.

I have a TRUE 6M pixel camera (scanning camera), and I get equally as
excellent scans from most any Nikon mount lense...but of course, my sensor
is substantially larger...which brings me to my next point ;-)

The issue is not number OF sensors (what most people call resolution), but
sensor element size.  There is (has to be ;-) a low pass filter used over
the Bayer pattern sensors (remember, these sensors use four sensors, one R,
one B and two G, per pixel).  This filter specifically filters out any
frequencies below the pitch of the sensor elements (either 1x or 4x), which,
in this case, appears to be 7u...or if they do use a 4x filter, will be 14u.
If it is a 4x low pass filter, that's around 35 lp/mm.  Well below that of
most any modern lense.  Now, the Foveon is a different story...since it
doesn't use the Bayer pattern, it has different low pass filter
requirements.

Regards,

Austin