Hi Kevin,
If you look at the blue car shot, the front of the car has a lot of fake detail on the pixel shift exposure. Some of that is probably coming from overly aggressive processing. The plain exposure with the A7rII is much cleaner. The 100 MP back really plays it's resolution advantage. See the first attachment.
If DoF mattered for artistics reasons, the 100 MP Phase One camera would need to be stopped down to f/16 to match DoF, if you compare the rear tire it is kept in focus on the A7rIII but it is totally out of focus on the Phase One shot. See second attachment. That part of the pixel shift exposure is totally unusable BTW. See attachment #2.
In the above images the Phase one image was downsized to match the resolution of the A7rII.
The third attachment really shows the advantage of the larger sensor. There are processing differences, of course, the Phase One image has a higher contrast tone curve, quite aggressive sharpening combined with quiet aggressive noise suppression, fairly typical of Capture One default processing.
As the pixel shift mode does not increase resolution, it's main benefit is reduction of colour aliasing and removing the colour interpolation used in the demosaic algorithm. The point Jonathan Sachs tried to make is that using smallish apertures removes the main advantage of the pixel shift. Stopping down to f/11 adds quiet enough blur to eliminate most of the aliasing on the A7rII. So no benefits will remain. The any benefit we see is grittyness from oversharpening in the Sony software plus a generous amount of artefacts.
Some of us are interested of both the art and the technology behind, it can be a learning experience to all.
Best regards
Erik
In real-world picture taking using optimal f/stops is not always possible. I'll never argue with science but when needed you use the f/stop that delivers the DOF needed to get the shot. And, I made it very clear in the article that the result of the Pixel Shift is a perceived improvement in image quality. The test I did was typical of conditions many photographers would use Pixel Shift. While I love the Physics and Science of photography I am a photographer and thus sometimes I have to use not so optimal f/stops like f/22 god forbid. As many know I am a Capture One user and there are tools in C1 that help minimize many of the issues of diffraction and other lens aberrations. Bottom line is that in the end, most people will never know the difference between an image shot at f/5.6 or f/11 or even f/22. Unless you have something to compare to and in most cases, the results will be hard to see. For me, it is getting the best image possible using the tools I have. And, yes many times when I need to leave the sweet spot of my lens I say to myself - ouch, this is going to hurt but at least I got a photograph and usually, I can make the best of it.
Either way, Pixel Shift by Sony and the others is pretty damn cool especially when you consider the science and technology that it takes to make it happen.
For me, I don't let physics and science get in the way of my art.