Been thinking about the immediate future of MF digital photography in regards to lens design. Let’s say Phase One comes out with a digital back that is 300 megapixels in a few years (which, I would think, would assuredly and finally match—perhaps surpass—8x10 *dodges rocks*).
Will we need all new lenses to take advantage of it? Will any manufacturer be willing to put in the work? And would we be able to afford them if they did? And if we did, would diffraction have us shooting at f/4?
I wonder if, knowing this, Phase One will keep the resolution at this limit for a while, at least for another generation, focusing on other value adds. But 35mm and crop MF may need to keep upping the resolution to stay competitive. Perhaps Fuji and others have the money to spend on all new lens designs.
Is this as good as it gets for MFDBs?
Hi,
For one thing, Phase One, Hasselblad and Fujifilm don't decide on sensors. They use whatever sensors that sensor makers sell.
In many cases, I would suggest that it is rather the photographer than the lens that is the limiting factor:
- Good lenses perform optimum at say f/4-f/5.6. Stopping down farther reduces sharpness. It does little sense to make better lenses if we throw away sharpness stopping down.
- Precise focusing is needed, preferably at shooting aperture.
- Obviously, factors like stable tripod, release technique, use of electronic first curtain and other things matter a lot.
My point may be that getting the best of present lenses needs a lot of perfection from the photographer.
On the other hand, it may be that we don't need image quality at all, that is a pretty good argument. Once an image is good enough, adding image quality will yield diminishing returns. Can I make good 30"x40" prints, I am quite happy. Would I make large prints intended to be viewed close, that would be another thing.
I would argue that there are two reasons to increase resolution:
- Reducing aliasing in the images. Have correctly sampled image instead of low resolution artifacts on detail.
- Printing large.
Adding a small point. A boring image is a boring image, regardless of technical quality. But a great image may deserve excellent quality.
Best regards
Erik