| Joined: | Thu Apr 19th, 2012 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 4428 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
I have always thought it was preferable, if not better,to capture the image with the optical lens available and crop the image to the size required in the computer.
But today I have had my thinking challenged and would value your comments on my logic ( or not!).
There is no doubt that using a digital zoom ( lets call it camera lens cropping) and sectional enlargement of your image after capture ( let's call that computer cropping) inevitably lead to some degree to a loss of sharpness. The extent and differences in methods being a function of camera sensor resolution and technique. But what about noise?
A friend showed me some images today, taken on a bridge camera at 1600iso at 400mm optical and 800mm digital. There was some noise there in both images. ( we forget how blessed we are with Nikon DSLR high ISO control)
However, taking the 400mm capture to the computer and cropping made the grain more noticeable....by virtue of the fact the grain was being sectionally enlarged as well as the subject.
In fact the digital zoom image was all round a better image as shot.
It leads me to re-evaluate my opinion of the usefulness of in camera digital zoom features.
I PRESUME, that using the DX crop feature in an FX body won't have the same benefit? Because you are using a reduced area of the sensor as opposed to making the image bigger on the sensor by zooming?
Interesting argument for getting it as big as possible in the camera by whatever method ....as opposed to relying on after cropping in a computer....particularly in high iso situations.
Last edited on Tue Nov 27th, 2018 14:10 by Eric
____________________
Eric