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Author Topic: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.  (Read 58477 times)

timparkin

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #40 on: December 27, 2011, 05:15:48 am »

Film really should be run through a noise reduction package. Digital does the same thing from RAW.



Noise reduction is a balancing act. Any more nr here would destroy low contrast details. However, scanning on a drum scanner with a larger aperture will help a lot. I will write an addendum about this over his holiday.

Portra areas overexposed do suffer from noise when scanned at smaller apertures. Time to play some more.
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imagico

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #41 on: December 27, 2011, 03:23:37 pm »

First of all - thanks to Tim and all others involved for this test, which - to my knowledge - is by far the most extensive and thorough comparison on the matter done until now.

Reading it (and especially Tim's Editor’s Commentary) made me realize is that, depending on how fast pixel densities will rise, the most serious limiting factor of 'small' formats will probably soon be lens quality.  There is most likely no 35mm lens available that is diffraction limited by f/4 up to the corners, especially no wide angle.  Situation might be a bit better for MF with lenses achieving maximum quality at f/5.6 existing but to reach up to the realm of 8x10" this would need to improve to at least f/2.8 (35mm) and f/4 (MF).

I remember Michael Reichmann citing Leica people saying their camera systems are currently not lens limited - but this could change soon.  Alternatives would be stitching (obviously) and larger than MF solid state sensors (which would be prohibitively expensive).  Significantly improving lens resolution OTOH will require developing new design and manufacturing techniques.
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ErikKaffehr

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #42 on: December 27, 2011, 04:37:03 pm »

Hi,

I'm not really sure about lens being the limiting factor. Very clearly, this is not the case on IQ180. Even with 5x8 or 8x10 it seems to me that film may matter a lot.

I'm actually a bit confused:

- Michael Reichmann's testing has clearly showed that Canon 1DsII was superior to Velvia on Pentax 67.

- My own testing has at least indicated that 24 MP Digital (Sony Alpha 900) was competitive to Pentax 67. Digital was mostly better but not always.

- In Tim's test it seems that film on Mamiya 67 is in many aspects ahead of 20+ MP digital.

- Charly Cramer and Joseph Holmes found Phase One P45 (or P65?) to be on par width 4x5" Velvia, but it's not the case in Tim's tests.

This has clearly to do with both equipment and evaluation. Tim scans at higher resolution. Tim's testing is also more demanding, as he sets the ribbon at a very high definition scan from a 8x10". Digital images are very smooth and they are good at resolving some detail, but resolution ends abruptly at the Nyquist limit. Upscaling digital images gives a lot of ugly artifacts. High res scans may scale better due to oversampling.

Best regards
Erik




First of all - thanks to Tim and all others involved for this test, which - to my knowledge - is by far the most extensive and thorough comparison on the matter done until now.

Reading it (and especially Tim's Editor’s Commentary) made me realize is that, depending on how fast pixel densities will rise, the most serious limiting factor of 'small' formats will probably soon be lens quality.  There is most likely no 35mm lens available that is diffraction limited by f/4 up to the corners, especially no wide angle.  Situation might be a bit better for MF with lenses achieving maximum quality at f/5.6 existing but to reach up to the realm of 8x10" this would need to improve to at least f/2.8 (35mm) and f/4 (MF).

I remember Michael Reichmann citing Leica people saying their camera systems are currently not lens limited - but this could change soon.  Alternatives would be stitching (obviously) and larger than MF solid state sensors (which would be prohibitively expensive).  Significantly improving lens resolution OTOH will require developing new design and manufacturing techniques.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2011, 04:52:12 pm by ErikKaffehr »
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ced

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #43 on: December 28, 2011, 10:16:07 am »

(downsized to 2000dpi from 4000dpi)
Tim are you able to upload a crop of just the house done at 4000dpi please?  Thanks!
Thanks again for the fun I had reading all about the superb tests your team presented to the photo community.
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timparkin

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #44 on: December 28, 2011, 05:21:00 pm »

(downsized to 2000dpi from 4000dpi)
Tim are you able to upload a crop of just the house done at 4000dpi please?  Thanks!
Thanks again for the fun I had reading all about the superb tests your team presented to the photo community.

which house, which film? Most of the scans in the 'large' section are shown at 4000dpi for the 8x10. If you look at the '800px' section then all of the 4x5 in here are shown at 4000dpi
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ced

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #45 on: December 28, 2011, 05:26:17 pm »

Sorry I thought the "house" was obvious, the one in your reply no:32
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douglasboyd

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When to use each camera
« Reply #46 on: December 29, 2011, 12:07:06 pm »

The test is great with a lot of useful information.  I have cameras that cover the test range and my main question is when to use each type.  I print at 20x30 (Costco $8.95) and larger.  I know the experts on this forum will have a lot of valuable advice on this subject, so I will start of with a brief summary of how I decide what to shoot with:

1.  APS-C digital:  This size was not covered in the test but is important with Sony A65, A77 and Nex-7 at 24mp.   I use this when I need low size and weight and/or high depth-of-field.  I use the Nex with my Contax G lenses.

2. 35mm full frame DSLR:  I use A900 24mp when I need versatility with speed, and a high range of focal lengths.  For higher resolution I stitch.

3.  MF Film:  I use Mamiya 6 for shorter lenses (50mm and 75mm) and Mamiya RZ67 for longer lenses.  But actually, not using this system much these days.

4.  MF Digital:  I use Hasselblad H3DII-39 when I want shallow depth of field, e.g. portraits.  This system easily gives DOF of 2cm or less in typical head shots.  With the wider lenses, this system also works for some landscapes.

5.  4x5 film:  This system has the advantage of movements that can sometimes be helpful to get greater depth of field in landscapes and perspective control.  But I don't use it much these days. 

6.  LF film:  I don't have an 8x10 view camera, but have a Fuji 6 x17 camera which comes close to LF resolution in the long direction.  I use this to get the "Peter Lik" look in panoramas when I want to print large, and cannot use stitching.  I have been using Velvia 50 and 100, but based on this article, I am going to experiment more with negative film to exploit dynamic range.

The biggest cost issue for me is not MFDB cost or processing cost, but the cost of framing large prints!  Anyway, that's where I am today, and I love the comments in this thread.

==Doug
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marfa.tx

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #47 on: December 29, 2011, 02:03:14 pm »

as mentioned to Tim before the "test"... two paths to a digital image....
take your pick, while you can.
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richard

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #48 on: December 29, 2011, 05:14:10 pm »

Thanks for posting this very interesting test.

How about versus 1.8 gigapixels?  :P
« Last Edit: December 29, 2011, 05:18:09 pm by lowep »
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Doug Peterson

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Re: When to use each camera
« Reply #49 on: December 29, 2011, 05:30:30 pm »

6.  LF film:  I don't have an 8x10 view camera, but have a Fuji 6 x17 camera which comes close to LF resolution in the long direction.  I use this to get the "Peter Lik" look in panoramas when I want to print large, and cannot use stitching.  I have been using Velvia 50 and 100, but based on this article, I am going to experiment more with negative film to exploit dynamic range.

Notably Peter Lik now uses a Phase One digital back to get his "Peter Lik" look :-) We sold him his first unit.

Doug Peterson (e-mail Me)
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« Last Edit: December 29, 2011, 05:33:32 pm by dougpetersonci »
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Fine_Art

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #50 on: December 29, 2011, 09:54:41 pm »

Noise reduction is a balancing act. Any more nr here would destroy low contrast details. However, scanning on a drum scanner with a larger aperture will help a lot. I will write an addendum about this over his holiday.

Portra areas overexposed do suffer from noise when scanned at smaller apertures. Time to play some more.

I use these settings mostly for chroma noise reduction. There is no noticeable reduction in fine detail.

Edit- look at the top left corner to see the "after" difference.
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timparkin

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #51 on: December 31, 2011, 04:09:36 am »

on your website you write about scanning 8x10 inch film:

[...  This would suggest that if you don’t have access to a drum scanner, you may be better off shooting negative film? The 8×10 Portra 400 scan was hardly degraded at all however; the results showed a similar level of sharpness of that of the drum scan with very little evidence of the colour fringing and halation that flatbed scanners are renowned for (all Epson V750 scans were made at 4800dpi and down sampled to reduce noise). ...]

Did you do this also with b&w film? Did you find there similar results?


Yes we did - the black and white didn't suffer from high contrast edge flare anywhere near as much as the transparency film but it was a little worse than the neg film.
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timparkin

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Re: When to use each camera
« Reply #52 on: December 31, 2011, 04:15:43 am »

The test is great with a lot of useful information.  I have cameras that cover the test range and my main question is when to use each type.  I print at 20x30 (Costco $8.95) and larger.  I know the experts on this forum will have a lot of valuable advice on this subject, so I will start of with a brief summary of how I decide what to shoot with:

1.  APS-C digital:  This size was not covered in the test but is important with Sony A65, A77 and Nex-7 at 24mp.   I use this when I need low size and weight and/or high depth-of-field.  I use the Nex with my Contax G lenses.

2. 35mm full frame DSLR:  I use A900 24mp when I need versatility with speed, and a high range of focal lengths.  For higher resolution I stitch.

3.  MF Film:  I use Mamiya 6 for shorter lenses (50mm and 75mm) and Mamiya RZ67 for longer lenses.  But actually, not using this system much these days.

4.  MF Digital:  I use Hasselblad H3DII-39 when I want shallow depth of field, e.g. portraits.  This system easily gives DOF of 2cm or less in typical head shots.  With the wider lenses, this system also works for some landscapes.

5.  4x5 film:  This system has the advantage of movements that can sometimes be helpful to get greater depth of field in landscapes and perspective control.  But I don't use it much these days. 

6.  LF film:  I don't have an 8x10 view camera, but have a Fuji 6 x17 camera which comes close to LF resolution in the long direction.  I use this to get the "Peter Lik" look in panoramas when I want to print large, and cannot use stitching.  I have been using Velvia 50 and 100, but based on this article, I am going to experiment more with negative film to exploit dynamic range.

The biggest cost issue for me is not MFDB cost or processing cost, but the cost of framing large prints!  Anyway, that's where I am today, and I love the comments in this thread.

==Doug


From my experience running the test, you can blow up a 24Mp DSLR with a good lens to 20x24 and people will accept it although in a side by side with a higher res camera it will show (just). I imagine the Nex7 will be close but possibly 16x20 may be the limit. (I'll be testing this when I get rid of my 5Dmk2)

MF film is happy up to just over 20x24 and will look good up to 30x40 although grain will be showing unless treated and then it could look a bit 'plasticky' depending on NR

MFDB should be OK to 30x40 for landscapes although with Portraits I imagine you could get larger with acceptable results

LF 4x5 should be good for 50x40 or maybe larger if you accept some noise.

8x10 you could get to 60x80 and show no grain..

6x17 is interesting, I've found this produces very sharp 120's that easily exceed 4000dpi (with good technique of course) and you should get a 25x70 print from a 4000dpi scan.

Tim

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timparkin

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #53 on: December 31, 2011, 04:21:03 am »

Sorry I thought the "house" was obvious, the one in your reply no:32

There were quite a few 'houses' in the original subject of the thread (in the landscape view). Get what you mean now though - let me have a look for it..

Tim
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theguywitha645d

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #54 on: December 31, 2011, 11:26:00 am »

Funny, when you understand the concepts behind viewing distance and human perception, print size has nothing to do with format nor the number of pixels. And when you print large, as I do, you see the underlying theory works really well. (I have made 16x20s from m4/3 cameras, which are beautiful and can go larger.)
« Last Edit: December 31, 2011, 11:32:10 am by theguywitha645d »
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ced

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #55 on: December 31, 2011, 11:43:41 am »

As I understand the ideal viewing distance is minimum 2.5X the diagonal of the image in question.
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theguywitha645d

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #56 on: December 31, 2011, 11:54:11 am »

Viewing distance is equal to the diagonal of the image.
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ErikKaffehr

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #57 on: December 31, 2011, 12:15:26 pm »

Hi,

Viewing distance is the distance the viewer chooses to view the image, IMHO.

Norman Koren discusses the issue here: http://www.imatest.com/docs/sqf/

Best regards
Erik


Viewing distance is equal to the diagonal of the image.
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theguywitha645d

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #58 on: December 31, 2011, 12:46:49 pm »

Erik, "Standard" viewing distance is a well documented basic concept. Norman also states what he "believes" to be the best viewing distance (in relation to SQF) and your link is to a specific method of determining SQF which is a way to compare image quality for a system, not for simply judging print quality. Naturally, that does not stop folks from putting nose prints on their work. Most prints on a wall are viewed from greater than the standard. Pixel peepers look a viewing distance very much closer than standard. The standard viewing distance gives a good metric of how an image will look like for an average viewer.

But one thing is clear, print size does not change the image. Stating print specs based on personal aversions to grain or noise or whatever is nothing more than stating blue is the best color in the world. All I can say when someone say x cannot be printed larger than yXy, I have not found that to be true--I don't use anything wider than 44" roll paper, but you are going to have to do some serious explaining why an image printed 44" wide will suddenly not work when made bigger than that.
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ErikKaffehr

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Re: 8x10" vs 4x5" vs IQ180 vs ... Great test by Tim Parkin et al.
« Reply #59 on: December 31, 2011, 01:00:34 pm »

Hi,

Just to mention a few cases:

1) In one of the Reichmann and Schewe videos they are looking at landscape from the Antartica, a sole Penguin is an important element in the image. It's nice to walk up to the image and check the Penguin.

2) I have a pano covering perhaps 135 degrees of horizontal view, printed at 100x50 cm. If you look at that image at 1.1 meters it's beautiful, but if you look at it from close you feel like a part of the image, because field of view corresponds to angle of view in the picture.

I didn't refer to Norman's article like to an absolute norm, but he spent much effort in finding correct assumptions for Imatest.

Best regards
Erik


Erik, "Standard" viewing distance is a well documented basic concept. Norman also states what he "believes" to be the best viewing distance (in relation to SQF) and your link is to a specific method of determining SQF which is a way to compare image quality for a system, not for simply judging print quality. Naturally, that does not stop folks from putting nose prints on their work. Most prints on a wall are viewed from greater than the standard. Pixel peepers look a viewing distance very much closer than standard. The standard viewing distance gives a good metric of how an image will look like for an average viewer.

But one thing is clear, print size does not change the image. Stating print specs based on personal aversions to grain or noise or whatever is nothing more than stating blue is the best color in the world. All I can say when someone say x cannot be printed larger than yXy, I have not found that to be true--I don't use anything wider than 44" roll paper, but you are going to have to do some serious explaining why an image printed 44" wide will suddenly not work when made bigger than that.
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