beewee wrote:
How does sensor size come into play?
If we\'re talking about perceived diffraction then by your claim, a sensor with an arbitrary size (say 10x10mm in size) that consists of a single pixel, should be able to detect diffraction since you claim that photosite density or size have no bearing on detecting diffraction effects. Clearly, that\'s impossible.
If we\'re talking about physical diffraction (not perceived diffraction) then according to the \"Cambridge Handbook of Physical Formulas\", diffraction for a circular aperture is a function of the initial intensity of the light ray, wavelength of incoming light and aperture diameter.
There are two ways to measure diffraction. One is what I\'ll call the \"absolute size\" of the diffraction blur - imagine measuring it with a very small (imaginary) ruler placed on the sensor. It is true that this measurement would be the same on different size sensors given the same lens and aperture.
But that isn\'t particularly relevant to photography.
The second way to measure diffraction is in terms of its \"relative size\" - the relationship between its size the the size (let\'s use the horizontal dimension) of the sensor. This IS relevant to photography.
Diffraction of some \"absolute size\" will be \"smaller\" relative to the overall size of the larger sensor, and thus be less visible in a print.
