{"id":33111,"date":"2018-11-26T09:32:12","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T16:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/?p=33111"},"modified":"2018-11-26T21:15:01","modified_gmt":"2018-11-27T04:15:01","slug":"4mp-is-all-you-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/2018\/11\/26\/4mp-is-all-you-need\/","title":{"rendered":"4mp is all you need"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>The lunacy of the pixel race.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>These images are of the same subject with the two best lenses I own &#8211; the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcpro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Lumix 12-35mm at 25mm (50mm FFE) on the Panasonic GX7 and the Nikon D700 with the 50mm f\/2 HC MF Nikkor.  The GX7&#8217;s sensor is 16mp on 3\/4 sq. in., the D700 has 12mp on its 1.5 sq. in. sensor.  Both at 400 ISO and f\/5.6.<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog2\/4mp_1.jpg\" width=\"1000\" height=\"619\" alt=\"\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>The image below enlarges the center 40x, so a 40\u00e2\u20ac\u009d x 60\u00e2\u20ac\u009d print.  Note the greater warmth of the Nikkor optic.  To properly display focal length in the EXIF data I have installed a CPU in the Nikkor lens, which has nothing to do with its optical quality.  No extra sharpening &#8211; just the default of 25 in Lightroom, no other processing:<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog2\/4mp_2.jpg\" width=\"1000\" height=\"829\" alt=\"\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>These images display maybe 1 mp of the sensors&#8217; pixel counts.<\/p>\n<p>In the next image I have increased the GX7 sharpening from LR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s default of 25 to 70.  The Nikon image is unchanged, using default sharpening:<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog2\/4mp_3.jpg\" width=\"1000\" height=\"822\" alt=\"\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>The results are indistinguishable as regards definition.<\/p>\n<p>Here you can compare the shadow details &#8211; GX7 at left.  The D700 has one of the best sensors for rendering shadows in the business:<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog2\/4mp_4.jpg\" width=\"462\" height=\"440\" alt=\"\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>The results are again indistinguishable.<\/p>\n<p>The madness of the sensor pixel race, with FF sensors now approaching 50mp, dictates that users upgrade their lenses as all the &#8216;faults&#8217; of older optics are now on display when pixel peeping.  The reality is that no one makes 40&#8243; x 60&#8243; prints and that users would be better off sticking with modest sized sensors and old lenses.  The 50mm f\/2 HC Nikkor used in the above dates from 1973 and can be found in mint condition for $50.  A mint Nikon D700 with low shutter actuations can be had for $450 or less.  And you will not have to wait all day for the images to render in Lightroom owing to the modest file sizes.<\/p>\n<p>4mp is all you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The lunacy of the pixel race. These images are of the same subject with the two best lenses I own &#8211; the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcpro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Lumix 12-35mm at 25mm (50mm FFE) on the Panasonic GX7 and the Nikon D700 with the 50mm f\/2 HC MF Nikkor. The GX7&#8217;s sensor is 16mp on 3\/4 sq. in., the D700 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/2018\/11\/26\/4mp-is-all-you-need\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">4mp is all you need<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technique"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33111"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33123,"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33111\/revisions\/33123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pindelski.org\/Photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}