Digital BW, The Print

Hi Herb,

> The best analysis I've seen so far of digicam vs. film resolution is
> the one done by Norman Koren (already referred to in this thread) to
> be found at:  http://www.normankoren.com/Tutorials/MTF7.html
>
> Koren concludes that the D60 has 72% of the resolution of Provia 100
> film scanned with an excellent 4000 dpi scan.  (He also says that the
> D30 has about 55% of the resolution of the Provia 100F.)

It doesn't have NEAR 72% of the resolution, the statement is entirely
incorrect.  I've explained why in another post...

> Koren goes on to say:
>
> "The image quality of digital cameras will equal 35mm with fewer
> pixels than predicted by MTF alone because digital cameras have much
> less noise."

That is entirely subjective.  I prefer detail in my images, some people
prefer sharpness...it's all in what you believe is "quality".

> Koren's remarks are basically just he's worked out in trying to
> formulate a theory to fit what he's seen (that the 6MP digicams are
> nearly the equal of 35mm).  He's very carefully trying to figure out
> why digital prints somehow seeem to look better than they should.

Because they are sharp and have less detail.  Digital cameras give images
much like lithographs...very crisp lines, but not complete detail.  To some
people, that looks very good...  The eyes and the brain typically like this
"order".

It's "similar" to the issue of CDs vs albums.  CDs are very clean
sounding...and to most people that is enough to make them sound much
better...but to some people, albums have a higher fidelity and retain more
"detail" (as the "detail" that can be recorded by CDs falls off at 22kHz)
and therefore sound better...

Regards,

Austin