
The parallel lines are actually diffraction patterns.
LENS DIFFRACTION SERIES
As the fingers approach each other and come very close together, you begin to see a series of dark lines parallel to the fingers.
LENS DIFFRACTION FULL
The more megapixels on the sensor, the more nearly the full resolution delivered by the lens can be captured.A very simple demonstration of diffraction of waves can be conducted by holding your hand in front of a light source and slowly closing two fingers while observing the light transmitted between them. Not even "perceptual megapixels", whatever they might be. Resolution is also a property of the lens. That is over-sampling which more accurately captures the resolution of which the lens is capable. We WANT our sensors to out-resolve the lenses. the point between limits set by aberrations and limits set by diffraction) is unchanged.Īnother pointless worry is "do the latest sensors out-resolve my lenses?" To put that more usefully, the optimum aperture of the lens (i.e. The behaviour of the lens itself does not change, nor is there any change in the aperture at which diffraction becomes the limiting factor the image quality. The image is then enlarged more for viewing so any loss of detail or sharpness caused by diffraction is more visible. What happens when you use a smaller sensor is that a smaller part of the image created by the lens is captured. There is a lot of garbage "information" on the web that is misleading to photographers that don't have a background in maths/physics/optics/sampling-theory.įor correct and accurate information on matters like these I recommend the web site "Cambridge in Colour": The sensor cannot alter properties of the lens!
LENS DIFFRACTION ISO
Many times, it will be a compromise between several factors such as more depth of field (narrow aperture) and usable shutter speed and ISO (wide aperture).ĭiffraction is a feature of the lens. Ultimately you must consider all of the factors involved to decide what is the best aperture to use for a particular photograph. Most other manufacturers' DSLR offerings fall somewhere along the same lines. Current Canon DLSRs may have a DLA as low as f/6.6 (70D, 7DII) and as high as f/11 (EOS 1D X). For more about diffraction, read this question. The progression from sharp to soft is not an abrupt one. Higher resolution sensors generally continue to deliver more detail well beyond the DLA than lower resolution sensors until the "Diffraction Cutoff Frequency" is reached (a much narrower aperture). It is where image sharpness begins to be compromised for increased DOF. DLA does not mean that narrower apertures should not be used. As sensor pixel density increases, each pixel gets smaller and the DLA gets wider. The lower DLA of the 70D is due to its smaller sensor/pixel size that requires higher magnification to display images from the 70D at the same size as an image from the larger sensored 6D.ĭiffraction at the DLA is barely visible when viewed at 100% (1 pixel = 1 pixel) on a display.
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Therefore, if the sensor is larger, and the photo-sites for the same resolution can also be larger, does this influence the diffraction limit of a lens? Does sensor size impact the diffraction limit of a lens?
