Was that really necessary, Slobodan?
Sometimes when an uncalled-for smartarse comment comes to mind, it's best just to leave it there.
Just as necessary as some dude on the Internet posting what he had for breakfast, or another dude posting "I prefer product A to product B." Just as I do not give a damn what some dude on the Internet had for breakfast, I just as well do not give a damn that another dude on the Internet prefers A to B.
Now, I am sure that the "dude" in question is a smart guy and a fine gentlemen in person, but so far I only know his forum persona, and, as I far as I am concerned, this is the first post I remember him for. So, why on Earth would I care what he thinks about A vs. B? Or what he had for breakfast?
Unless, of course, he would post examples so that I can see for myself. His repeated whining that examples do not make sense as they reflect his subjective criteria is just as annoying. His main claim is "...DxO extracts significantly more detail from these cameras without planting artifacts..." i.e., that the demosaic algorithms and detail recovery are superior. That statement leaves little room for subjectivity. While color and tone preferences are subjective (although it is also possibly to quantify them in terms of color accuracy and dynamic range), detail is much less so. It is there or it is not, nothing subjective about it, and easy for everyone to see. What is subjective about detail is, of course, how significant the difference is (i.e., the debate between 'incomparable' and 'barely noticeable under ideal circumstances').
To illustrate demosaicing superiority, all one has to do is to post the first thing that comes out of both converters, without any other processing (i.e., his subjective preferences for contrast, highlights, color, etc.). If one wants to be thorough, there are three options to present the initial rendering: sharpening zeroed, default sharpening, and the optimum sharpening for each converter (the latter is, of course, subjective, but as long as it is labeled as such, I will be free to form my own opinion).
That would be helpful for some guy from the Internet.
If, however, Jeff Schewe would post something like : "Hey guys, I just tried converter X and it is significantly better than L...," I would be downloading it before even finishing that sentence. Not because I am a sucker for authority (I am anything but), not because someone else proclaimed him as such, but because I know him for years, on this forum or else, and I formed my own opinion of him as authority.
If, however, some dude on the Internet said the same, I
really, really couldn't care less, let alone expose myself to the trouble of downloading it, installing it, learning the basics, trying it, de-installing it, then chasing and cleaning all the bits and pieces an installation leaves across the system...
