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 p.1 #10 · 24-105L sharp enough for 21mp? | |
eosfun wrote:
For almost every subject and viewing distance: YES!  Maybe some nearsighted brickwall engineers who print extremely large might not find it's enough of EOSfun
That's not the question. The question was whether it's sharp enough to take full advantage of the 21 megapixels. My answer would be no. Depending on the aperture, some significant part of the frame will be resolved at less than 21 megapixel resolution. How much that matters to you depends on what kind of photography you want to do.
I have been using the 1Ds3 since December, and although I no longer own a 24-105, I use a Zeiss 24-85 N which is quite similar, and with quite a few other lenses also I have noticed that they limit sharpness, and require more sharpening in post. Some lenses really milk the sensor though, so it's definitely not the AA filter.
Primes generally give good results. Expect to use a 17-40 at f8 or f11, with DPP lens aberration correction, to get optimal results. Even then, you will see some loss of sharpness towards the corners. Here's an example:
unscaled crops:
extreme bottom right corner:
It is VERY IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT WHEN YOU EXAMINE 100% CROPS FROM A 21 MEGAPIXEL CAMERA YOU ARE VIEWING THE IMAGE AT SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER MAGNIFICATION THAN YOU ARE USED TO. This means that although the lens defects and noise are more visible in 100% crops, the print is still better than you were getting from your 12 megapixel camera. A 100% crop of a 21 megapixel file is a much higher level of scrutiny. The per pixel noise doesn't need to be as good as that in a 12 megapixel file in order for the file to equal or surpass the lesser file's noise footprint.
Experiment with your lenses, learn the limitations, choose apertures more carefully, and shoot more carefully, and many lenses can fill at least the majority of the pixels with detail. Avoid zooms and lenses with a less than stellar reputation for sharpness.
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