I tried and found artifacts. As I do not shoot a lot, I chose to stay at 60 Mpix. I have plenty of SD cards, disks to store, CPU & GPU power to process so this is not an issue.
You already have the camera, after all. So, what’s stopping you from giving it a try? The beauty of digital technology is that the actual shooting costs absolutely nothing. All in all, it’s faster, and you can see for yourself exactly where things stand.
pmeheut wrote:
I tried and found artifacts. As I do not shoot a lot, I chose to stay at 60 Mpix. I have plenty of SD cards, disks to store, CPU & GPU power to process so this is not an issue.
Of course, your mileage and preferences may vary.
In all my testing, I have not yet seen any artifacts of reduced resolutions, nor have I seen any example that shows it. Can you share examples that show the artifacts? Thanks!
Regarding OP, I do not shoot in any of the lower resolutions, but I can see that some want to (more space in buffer, faster processing and downloads).
Since getting the M EV1, I have been exclusively shooting it in 36 Mpixel resolution, or with 39 Mpixel x1.3 crop. Perhaps I have not pixel peeked deeply enough so see the flaws, but am enjoying the convenience of using a 35 Summilux ( ASPH pre-FLE ) as were it both 35 and 50mm.
SrMi wrote:
In all my testing, I have not yet seen any artifacts of reduced resolutions, nor have I seen any example that shows it. Can you share examples that show the artifacts?
Unfortunately not but it was in January/February 2022, the M11 was brand new, first firmware, Capture One and Adobe may have been the culprits...
Anyhow, I never revisited my decision but I may be wrong.
SrMi wrote:
Apart from the resolution, was there any other difference?
It wasn’t the resolution, because that would still be plenty. Something just seemed off. Usually, I love the M11 files (one of the reasons it’s hard to give up on it), but those didn’t impress me. Since I didn’t buy the camera to shoot at low resolution, I just moved on and didn’t give it any further thought.
Jorge Torralba wrote:
Been thinking of setting my m11 to capture at reduced mp. I don't really need 60mp for what I do.
Have any of you done this a d noticed a difference in results?
JT
On rare lenses with reduced contrast and sharpness, the lower resolution of the M11 can sometimes be useful, especially for portraits. But I didn't notice any increase in dynamic range from it; it's just a visual difference. I usually shoot at 60MP.
Good feedback, I'm really interested in focus forgiveness. Not hitting focus on 60mp is brutal. Just wondering if anyone has experienced better results with the focus when set to lower res.
When I got the M11, I was shooting full resolution. After a while, I decided to shift to half, and I haven't seen any difference.
To those who are mentioning artifacts or not liking the files, can you provide some samples? I honestly think it's more of a placebo thing. I also don't see any low-light benefit, I just shoot half the resolution due to space and file handling.
Malabito wrote:
When I got the M11, I was shooting full resolution. After a while, I decided to shift to half, and I haven't seen any difference.
To those who are mentioning artifacts or not liking the files, can you provide some samples? I honestly think it's more of a placebo thing. I also don't see any low-light benefit, I just shoot half the resolution due to space and file handling.
Sorry, I wouldn't know where to find those files anymore. I forgot when I shot at lower res and whether I kept the files. My LR overview just shows that all M11 files were shot at full resolution, unless I misunderstand something.
I shoot at full resolution and downsize later. My thought is I want the flexibility of having the additional resolution later.
When the M11 first came out, I remember Jono Slack did a bunch of testing on the reduced resolution. He determined that there was no real-world advantage in dynamic range or noise reduction when shooting at reduced in-camera resolutions. He found he was getting equal or sharper results with better fine-detail optimization by shooting at full 60MP and downsizing later in Adobe Lightroom.
Jorge Torralba wrote:
Been thinking of setting my m11 to capture at reduced mp. I don't really need 60mp for what I do.
Have any of you done this a d noticed a difference in results?
JT
I like the Triple Resolution feature specifically in -camera. I use for some years now for various reasons. I've never noticed artifacts occurring in the smaller file types--just less data 60 vs 36 vs 18 MPs.
The lower res options from the M11 are like resizing in Photoshop but without using the optimal "Bicubic Sharper (reduction)" option. The in-camera reduction is using a generic form of bicubic or a bilinear reduction. Regardless, the result is you will lose a very small amount of resolving power compared to manually resizing down the image later in Photoshop. Whether that small amount of difference in pixel-level detail is important, only the user can decide.
highdesertmesa wrote:
The lower res options from the M11 are like resizing in Photoshop but without using the optimal "Bicubic Sharper (reduction)" option. The in-camera reduction is using a generic form of bicubic or a bilinear reduction. Regardless, the result is you will lose a very small amount of resolving power compared to manually resizing down the image later in Photoshop. Whether that small amount of difference in pixel-level detail is important, only the user can decide.
AFAIK, the lower resolution modes use a proprietary and unknown algorithm that allows only specific resolutions. E.g., 24MP mode is not possible. The result is a "raw" file, or at least a file that has all the post-processing possibilities of a real raw file..
SrMi wrote:
AFAIK, the lower resolution modes use a proprietary and unknown algorithm that allows only specific resolutions. E.g., 24MP mode is not possible. The result is a "raw" file, or at least a file that has all the post-processing possibilities of a real raw file..
Yeah, no one knows how they do it, but the results are comparable to generic Photoshop reduction using non-sharper methods.
I need to try it on my SL3 to see if the newer processor results in higher quality size reduction versus what I tested on the M11 a while back.
