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Mike Sowsun wrote:
Only the original Canon EOS-1D was CCD. All other Canon DSLR's are CMOS. So what is it that makes the images of the D30 "Special"? (I have also heard this about the 10D)
reno.peterson wrote:
I think the "fatness" of the pixels give the lower resolution cameras somewhat of the "special" look. There isn't a whole lot of latitude for cropping and re-sizing, but when the picture was nailed, it looked great!!!
Yeah, I think pixel density might have something to do with it. Also back then the Noise Filter processing wasn't so aggressive. I've used loads of DSLR's, and my impressions can broadly be grouped thus (listing only the ones I've experience with):
dry, dirty, grainy, gritty, cooked, authentic sharpness, 3-dimensional:
- Canon 1D Mark 1, 10D (and presumably the D30 & D60 too)
- Nikon D1, D1X, D2H, D2X, D50, D80
- Olympus E-1, E-400
moist wet look, clean, plastic, sometimes a little flat, processed-looking sharpness:
- Canon 300D onwards (including 20D, 40D, 350D, 400D, even 1DII...basically all cameras after Canon figured out how to produce clean images)
- Nikon D40 onwards (including D40X/D200/D3000)
- Olympus E-420, E-450, E-3 (tho' not to the extent as Canikon's clean look, Olympus still retained a certain grittiness in the images, but they did lose some of that 'cooked' factor)
Obviously this is all highly-subjective. Most reports tell us that the 300D uses the same sensor and image processor as the 10D, but for whatever reason my subjective impression was that the 10D yielded drier grittier-looking output. Nikon it appeared were dallying between both looks for a couple of years until they also settled on the trend for clean-looking images with the D40. Olympus sort of went for a compromise (and in their case they even switched sensor manufacturer).
The reasons some of us have these impressions of older sensors are manyfold:
- in some cases CCD vs CMOS
- larger pixel-pitch offering a different take on resolution and micro-contrast
- older image processors using outdated noise-filtering algorithms, which kept the images looking gritty
- standard JPG's might have been compressed differently, or offered different colour processing
- a trick of the mind, nostalgia and power of suggestion
I never had all these cameras at the same time, so never got around to really testing this via a comparison thread.
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