Michael....1Ds MKIII and diffraction limits

[Bill Caulfeild-Browne]

It is very important - as the Cambridge site acknowledges - just what size prints you're going to make.

I tested my Mamiya/P45+ combo using the standard 80 mm lens at F8, 11, 16 and 22. At 1:1 on my computer screen, the shots at f8 are the sharpest, with f11 being very, very close. f16 is somewhat degraded and f22 is simply not sharp.

BUT...I then printed 8 by 10s and you really cannot see the difference in ANY of the shots.

THEN...I did 16 by 20s - and what I had seen on my computer screen showed through again. However, the f16 shot looked quite acceptable - until you put the f11 print beside it!

The moral of all this is simply that if you're shooting typical "book size" prints, as opposed to exhibition prints, you are not going to see the difference.

My recommendation is to test, using your most used lens and subject matter and print. Then act accordingly.

[Ray]

The moral of all this is simply that if you're shooting typical "book size" prints, as opposed to exhibition prints, you are not going to see the difference.
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The morality is also, if you're shooting typical 'book size' prints, you don't need a 1Ds3. The Olympus E-3 should be more than adequate.

There's a fallacy which started some years ago on a Canon EOS forum with a thread titled, "The D60's sensor is too small to stop down below f11". It was supported by some impressive mathematical formulae from the OP relating to DoF and resolution and the thread became the longest thread ever, on this particular forum. It was a fine example of the ancient Greek story about a group of philosophers arguing throughout the night about the number of teeth a horse has, until some bright spark in the early hours of the morning suggested the group take a brief amble across the road to a field where a horse was peacefully grazing, and actually count the teeth. The matter was resolved.

But we don't want that to happen, do we!  

[RomanJohnston]

It is very important - as the Cambridge site acknowledges - just what size prints you're going to make.

I tested my Mamiya/P45+ combo using the standard 80 mm lens at F8, 11, 16 and 22. At 1:1 on my computer screen, the shots at f8 are the sharpest, with f11 being very, very close. f16 is somewhat degraded and f22 is simply not sharp.

BUT...I then printed 8 by 10s and you really cannot see the difference in ANY of the shots.

THEN...I did 16 by 20s - and what I had seen on my computer screen showed through again. However, the f16 shot looked quite acceptable - until you put the f11 print beside it!

The moral of all this is simply that if you're shooting typical "book size" prints, as opposed to exhibition prints, you are not going to see the difference.

My recommendation is to test, using your most used lens and subject matter and print. Then act accordingly.
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With my D2X I consistently get a good print up to 30"x45"....with the process I have gone through great lengths to perfect.

I don't want to print any bigger....just wondering how much more detail I can get for that largest size I offer to my customers.

Roman