[UncleVanya]

I found this interesting. It wasn’t clearly biased and made me think.

icon/midnight/@menu

[gatorguy]

A good read, offering reasons to own beyond just being MF. Thanks for the find,!

[biz-engineer]

Nice talk, although mostly subjective talk IMO.
Practically I don't see a lot of difference between K1 files and 51Mpixels MF files, plus FF files contain less false colors and process better through Topaz Sharpen AI. So I see 100Mpixel more rewarding against medium format limitations (speed, lens choices).
However, I would see a great benefit in buying a used 50S/50R/645z and converting it to black & white, because then all aliasing disappears, which would turn B&W images comparable to the ones made from the 102Mpixel color counterpart.

[ProfessorBuzz]

Great article, well balanced, thanks for sharing!
I found myself agreeing with most of his comments on the 645Z.

---------- Post added 05-04-23 at 12:45 PM ----------

Practically I don't see a lot of difference between K1 files and 51Mpixels MF files,

Interesting perspective. From my viewpoint, the 645Z sensor is 1.7x the size of the K1, and the pixels are about 18% larger in the former, so will have more full well capacity.


I'm really interested if you could explain a bit about this next bit - your experience with false colors and Topaz Sharpen AI - I've thought about buying that software:

FF files contain less false colors and process better through Topaz Sharpen AI.

[TDvN57]

Nice talk, although mostly subjective talk IMO.
Practically I don't see a lot of difference between K1 files and 51Mpixels MF files, plus FF files contain less false colors and process better through Topaz Sharpen AI. So I see 100Mpixel more rewarding against medium format limitations (speed, lens choices).
However, I would see a great benefit in buying a used 50S/50R/645z and converting it to black & white, because then all aliasing disappears, which would turn B&W images comparable to the ones made from the 102Mpixel color counterpart.

To my understanding the conversion of a RGB camera to monochrome only removes the bayer filter, it does not change the algorithm that interprets the bayer filter. The color interpretation process would still run, although the output will be monochrome. The quality of the monochrome image will depend on the averaging that takes place during this bayer interpretation process. Unless they can remove the bayer filter and somehow disable the software that does the interpretation of the bayer filter, then I doubt it will be worth the cost of the conversion.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but if it is my money I'd rather buy the k3iii monochrome.

[HoundFrog]

To my understanding the conversion of a RGB camera to monochrome only removes the bayer filter, it does not change the algorithm that interprets the bayer filter. The color interpretation process would still run, although the output will be monochrome. The quality of the monochrome image will depend on the averaging that takes place during this bayer interpretation process. Unless they can remove the bayer filter and somehow disable the software that does the interpretation of the bayer filter, then I doubt it will be worth the cost of the conversion.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but if it is my money I'd rather buy the k3iii monochrome.

There are tools that bypass the demosaic process. One coming to mind is the Monochrome2DNG, also RawTherapee has a "Mono" mode in it's set of debayering algorithms. Probably there are others.

[clackers]

To my understanding the conversion of a RGB camera to monochrome only removes the bayer filter, it does not change the algorithm that interprets the bayer filter.

That algorithm is whatever your software is, though, not the RAW image!

[UncleVanya]

To my understanding the conversion of a RGB camera to monochrome only removes the bayer filter, it does not change the algorithm that interprets the bayer filter. The color interpretation process would still run, although the output will be monochrome. The quality of the monochrome image will depend on the averaging that takes place during this bayer interpretation process. Unless they can remove the bayer filter and somehow disable the software that does the interpretation of the bayer filter, then I doubt it will be worth the cost of the conversion.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but if it is my money I'd rather buy the k3iii monochrome.

As mentioned Monochrome2DNG is a tool that bypasses that step.

[biz-engineer]

I'm really interested if you could explain a bit about this next bit - your experience with false colors and Topaz Sharpen AI - I've thought about buying that software:

Ideally, up-scaling an image works better if the image is free of sampling artifacts (aliasing or moiré). The MF 51Mp has no anti-alias filter on it and its pixel pitch is larger than FF 36Mpix. Having compared up-scaled and sharpened test images for 30x40" prints , from that MF 51Mpixel (GFX) and FF 36Mpix, I've found that the FF 36Mpix is better rendered after up-scaling and sharpening.

---------- Post added 05-05-23 at 12:30 ----------

Unless they can remove the bayer filter and somehow disable the software that does the interpretation of the bayer filter, then I doubt it will be worth the cost of the conversion.

Shoot raw and use external software that doesn't do the bayer interpolation. In Rawtherapee there is a dedicated "demosaicing" mode ("mono") for monochrome sensors.

[HoundFrog]

Ideally, up-scaling an image.

But why upscale at all? The printer's driver/RIP is required anyway, because most modern printers aren't RGB. This software will convert the image to the "C, LC, VM, VLM, Y, LK, LLK, O, G, PK" or whatever the vendor is using, so why not let it to handle the scaling part too?

[HoundFrog]

made me think.icon/midnight/@menu

On a completely unrelated note, this webpage made me (an old fart using the widescreen monitor) think about the ways of modern UI.

[biz-engineer]

But why upscale at all?

Because the photo lab requires that we upload 300ppi files. Even if the upscale was done later by the printer software, there is some uncertainty about how the printer software will handle false colors (edge pixels).

[UncleVanya]

On a completely unrelated note, this webpage made me (an old fart using the widescreen monitor) think about the ways of modern UI.

My viewing was on mobile where it looks great. I wonder if the url biased that. Try searching for the article on a desktop - maybe there’s a better link.

[biz-engineer]

On a completely unrelated note, this webpage made me (an old fart using the widescreen monitor) think about the ways of modern UI.

That's meant to be read on a smartphone while walking down the street, and eventually get hit by a car that you didn't see coming, which actually happened to some teenagers, unfortunately.

[acoufap]

On a completely unrelated note, this webpage made me (an old fart using the widescreen monitor) think about the ways of modern UI.

If the website doesn’t follow a responsive web design, the website doesn‘t adjust its optimal appearance on different devices automatically. It takes some effort to implement such. Seems this site simply doesn‘t work responsive, i.e. it works optimal only on special kind of devices / display sizes.