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Understanding Sharpness1
Understanding Sharpness1
Grain
Our perception of sharpness depends to a large extent on how much detail an image contains.
Frequently an image with moderately coarse but sharp grain (or crisp digital noise) can appear as sharp
or even sharper than a fine-grained image. This is why high-acutance film developers such as Rodinal
have historically been preferred by some. They made grain somewhat bigger, but gave it higher
acutance and therefore aided in creating the appearance of a sharper image.
Conversely an image with fine but soft grain (for whatever reason) will drag down the general
appearance of sharpness that a given image might otherwise have.
Interestingly, completely grain-free images can appear to be less sharp than the resolution numbers
might lead one to believe. This is the case with the old Panatomic-X and Tech-Pan films. They are so
grain-free than they can appear less than critically sharp if the image doesn't contain a lot of fine detail.
Along the same lines, in the digital realm it's my experience that the Canon D30 at 100 ISO is so free
of digital noise (the equivalent of grain) that in some images it can almost appear to be less sharp than a
400 ISO frame from the same camera.
Inkjet Prints
There are some folks who haven't yet seen well-made high quality inkjet prints, and who therefore
mistakenly believe that these somehow can't equal traditional chemical prints in terms of sharpness. It's
worth noting that a 6 colour 1440 dpi inkjet printer (like the Epson 1270 / 1280 / 2000P Photo printers)
when fed a 360 dpi output file, is capable of about 16 pixel per millimeter. This translates to 8 lp/mm
right in the high-end of the ballpark for meeting the limits of human vision's ability to discern
maximum sharpness.
This also explains why the latest generation of printers speced at 2880 dpi (like the Epson 1280/1290)
don't make prints that look any sharper to the naked eye. Under a loupe, yes, but not unaided. The
reason why, we can now appreciate is because at about 8 lp/mm we are already near the limits of the
eye's ability to resolve fine detail. All we end up with is slower print speeds and greater ink usage.
2
Magnification Bigger Is Better
Any time you examine the issue of sharpness it must be seen in the context of magnification and
viewing distance. Look at a billboard from across the street. See the pretty girl with silky long hair
standing on a beach, enticing you to flee winter and join her in the Bahamas? Looks pretty sharp.
Individual strands of hair are visible and you can almost count the grains of sand.
Now climb up on the scaffolding and look at the billboard from a distance of 24 inches. All that
beautiful detail has been reduced to half-tone dots the size of golf balls. The image likely isn't even
intelligible any longer it's just big blobs of coloured dots.
This explains why medium and large format images appear "sharper" than prints made from 35mm
even though the 35mm lenses may have as much as twice the resolution. They simply don't need to be
enlarged as much. To make an 8X10" print a 35mm frame needs to be enlarged about 8X. A 6X6 frame
about 3X. As long as prints are small it doesn't make much difference. Beyond about an 8X10" print
though even the best shot 35mm images start to lose quality, while a 6X6cm based image is usually
fine up to about 16X20".
Size matters!