[filmscanners] Re: Why DSLR ouput looks sharper?

["David J. Littleboy" <davidjl@gol.com>]

From: "Paul D. DeRocco" <pderocco@ix.netcom.com>
> From: filmscanners_owner@halftone.co.uk
>
> What I want to know is:  which one will make a better 11x14 or
> 12x16" print?

4000 dpi scans of 645 slides look very nice at 12x16. Very. I've enver been
able to get a decent 11x14 from 35mm, but people claim it's possible. I
remain dubious. (But, FWIW, IMHO, 35mm ISO 100 slide film edges out 6 MP
DSLR digital.)

> Looking at screen pixels is not the final product, even though it
> does tell us something.

If you resize the scanned image down to 6MP, then you can do meaningful
on-screen comparisons. However, there may be actual detail that's lost by
resizing in this manner (though I doubt there is much).
>>>>>>>>>>

The game that I described was the results of downsampling to various levels
and seeing when things looked similar. I'll give 35mm credit for 8MP as
opposed to DSLR digital 6MP.

>>>>>>>>
Beyond that, there are other differences between scanned slides and DSLR
images. I'm of the opinion that digital cameras generally have more accurate
color, because the chemical processes involved in film involve finicky
response curves that need to be canceled out by other equally finicky
curves, while what goes on in a CCD or CMOS sensor is pretty simple and
linear.
<<<<<<<<

Maybe, but the new Velvia 100F and Astia 100F are pretty neutral in color
rendition. Nice grain, too.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> I am especially interested in comparisons of prints made from the Sigma
> Fovion images versus the new Olympus E-1 DSLR versus scans of film.  Also,
> any other DSLR vs film scan prints.

The Foveon technology looks interesting, but their current implementation
doesn't have any diffuser over the sensor, which makes it appear sharper
than most competitive sensors, but it is prone to aliasing and moire.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Yes, the lack of an _antialiasing filter_ makes the SD-9 rather problematic.
I was looking closely at the SD-9 and 10D versions of one of my favorite
test images, the "house shot", the shot of the brick building in Steve's
Digicam's reviews. Straight lines at a slight angle to vertical or
horizontal are an amazing mess in the SD-9 shot. Far worse than I would have
thought. I shoot a lot of urban stuff, and that would really irritate me no
end.

David J. Littleboy
davidjl@gol.com
Tokyo, Japan

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