Originally posted by IchabodCrane Agree, it was a great shot! Now, can I get some coaching? You chose f/16 for aperture yet I've seen in various posts that one shouldn't set an aperture that small to avoid diffraction. Can you walk us through how you settled on shooting parameters? Thanks in advance.
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Pixel peepers often worry about the degradation of an image for a zillion crazy reasons. Diffraction is one of the silly reasons. Yes, diffraction will reduce the detail and contrast of an image. I just had a quick look at the DoF Pro app on my phone, and a 12 mm lens shows the diffraction limit half way between f/8 and f/11 at hyperfocal distance. But we are talking about two different things. The app is great, but I disagree with the diffraction limit they put on it.
Diffraction does degrade an image slightly. Oh, really? That does not include everything one needs to know about the limits of an image. There is an awful lot of overly technical analysis out there. Some of it sounds as if it should make sense but does not. The diffraction limit is one of them. Let me give you my thoughts about it, and you can then shoot me down.
240 dpi is enough for a print. Pixel peepers say that 300 dpi is the ideal, but ... I have printed a K10 image at 20x30 inches, and it was, to put it bluntly, gorgeous. The image from a K10 is 3872x2592 pixels. At 300 dpi, that is a clean print 12.9" by 8.64" where each an every pixel will be distinct if the image is taken using the MTF program: the sharpest f/stop in the bunch. My best selling image is 16x24 inches in gallery wrap, which means one has to add another inch each end for the wrap, making the actual print 18x26 inches. OMG! you cannot print that big!!!!
My take on all this? Go for the depth of field if you need it. How about the K3? 6016x4000 at 300 dpi is a clean perfect pixel peeper special 20x13.3 inches. Use 240 dpi and the perfection goes out to 6016/240 = 25 by 4000/240 = 16.7 inches.
And then you go for depth of field. What is it, really? It is an 8x10 inch print viewed from 10 inches away that looks sharp. That's the depth of field. It is based on the resolution of your eye.
FINAL ANALYSIS: To heck with the pixel peeping idiots. If you need f/22 with your 10mm lens, use it. If you look at a 20x16.7 inch print from 10 inches away, it might not be absolutely crisp, but who in their right mind looks at a 20x16.7 inch print from 10 inches away?
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