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 p.3 #4 · My opinion and thoughts about Fujifilm X-Trans V 40Mpix sensor | |
Rand,
I think we’re on pretty much the same page on all of this. While a lot of folks probably don’t need to worry about this arcane stuff (even though some understanding is useful to anyone), if you are working to produce the highest quality prints it matters if you understand this stuff… and even more if you have done enough printing to understand how it works and what effect it has.
(Years back I spent a few weeks experimenting with different over-sharpening settings for print files, and I made test prints on all of the paper types I was then using. I learned that I needed different amounts for each paper. I also realized that, perhaps contrary to expectations, this matters more on small prints than on large prints.)
for me, too, the print is the thing. I love photograph sin all forms, but I especially like the magic of a beautiful image that lives as a print.
Fascinating that you mention Charlie. Charlie is a personal friend. (He actually played piano at our wedding!) We and Charlie have been part of a small print review group for years, meeting at his place, our place, or that of one of the other members.
A Charlie story: Maybe 15 years ago, as I was fully into my transition from film to digital, I had gotten an early Epson inkjet printer (the 2200?) and was trying to get up to speed on it. My results were OK, but far from wonderful. I called Charlie and asked, was there a book or a class or something that I could engage in order to really learn about this?
He replied, “Come on over and bring a few files.” We spent a morning in his studio as he worked on a couple of my files, explaining how he would approach them, and then generated prints. Those hours were an unbelievable gift from him, and I like to say that I learned 90% of what I needed to know about the fundamentals of getting from file to print on that morning. I am eternally grateful to him.
(I’ve also worked with him in the field in the Southwest and the Sierra, including as part of this project — though my participation began in 2008 after the book was published. (Videographer Scot Miller has produced a bunch of videos of this gang, too, some of which have been on the CBS Sunday Morning nature segments.) If you look closely, you may spot me on this video of a trip we did in the Southern Sierra a few years back: ?si=50Gpkv6oSHsJW6Re
I agree completely with your assessment of the 40MP sensor. Contrary to what we’ve read here, the improvement is real though not earth-shaking. Few people would need/want to upgrade from the 26MP sensor to the 40MP sensor for that alone. But for anyone considering the purchase of a Fujifilm system, the 40MP sensor is a solid performer and a modest but real improvement over the previous generations. It is also true that in order to get the most from this sensor (or any other sensor) in a print… you need to understand some important basic about printing.
Thanks for your contribution here.
Dan
Rand47 wrote:
Dan,
Yeah, I was trying to keep it simple, and as Einstein is reported to have said, “Everything Should Be Made as Simple as Possible, but not simpler…” and I was in danger of the latter in my post.
The LL video series you cite is “From Camera to Print and Screen” and it’s excellent, if a bit dated in terms of today’s printer technology. I have the whole series as mp4 files that I saved. Jeff’s books (he also wrote, “The Digital Negative” - both books a sort of digital homage to AA’s books), though written a few years ago are still very current in terms of state of the art thinking and best practices in digital print making.
I’m pretty passionate about making the best possible print I can, and so none of this “feels like” being deep in the weeds to me. I’m one of the modern day dinosaurs who happens to think that you don’t have a photograph unless you can hold it in your hands, and that printing makes me (us) a better photographer because I’ll see things in print (in my work) that I’d never see any other way. And because prints are beautiful in a way that “screen images” (no matter how good the screen) just can’t manage.
Over the years I’ve learned a ton from Jeff Schewe, and Charlie Cramer about both editing and printing. Both are genuine masters of the craft.
Oh, and so that I don’t totally go off topic of the OPs original critique of the 40 MP Fuji sensor, I bough an X-H2 and the difference between it and the 26 MP sensors is modest, but SIGNIFICANT when the “capture to print” workflow is optimal. It’s a genuinely nice increase in detail rendering “in print” - and so I fundamentally disagree with the OP.
Rand...Show more →
Edited on Feb 07, 2024 at 12:40 PM · View previous versions
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