Certainly magnification was involved. We see again and again how much us sports types hunger after length, length, length. I know there is trickery afoot and that if you had the same pixel density on a full frame sensor as you did on a C-size, the crop factor would simply be that - a crop from the full frame would be exactly the same image quality as the uncropped C-size image. But of course you'd be paying a lot extra for the full frame and then throwing half the image away all the time .

Can't remember if he mentioned fps, but it would certainly be a factor for me if I was to make the move to full frame. The 5D II is very pedestrian compared to the 7D and, even at 8 fps, it's amazing how many times I miss the 'decisive moment' in between frames .

On the issue of glass quality, it's been in the back of my mind the whole time we have been discussing this that the situation is hugely complicated by zoom lenses. A high quality prime lens often costs the same sort of money as a lower quality zoom lens, and of course the image quality of primes is just always going to tend to top the image quality from a zoom, especially one costing the same money. The top spec zooms are often only 2x to 3x range, while the lower spec ones can be up to 15x. Obviously that reach comes at a price to image quality, which makes the lower spec ones even lower, so to speak. And I say that as someone who owns a 15x zoom and feels it has a part to play due to the versatility it offers. I wouldn't have got this shot if I hadn't had the 15x...



However, when I compare some of the shots I have taken on a day when I've had the 15x and a good prime with me...

<click on images for 1000 px view>


And that's not even using the prime at its sharper apertures...

Lots of swings and roundabouts involved.. which all adds to the fascination of it

Col

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My hovercraft is full of eels

That first one is an absolute cracker!

I think the main thing is to get out there and shoot - something I don't do anywhere near enough of. All talk and no action - that's me!

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Using a looper and a top makes for a much better furled leader!

Colin,

I couldn't have told you the difference. I know that the first is by far the best picture though!

I'm starting to understand rather more about sensor size, picture quality and why high megapixels require ever better glass. One of the dad's down at our rowing club is a pro-photographer and I've had a long chat with him tonight about such matters. In fact he has resolved a question I put on here about 9 months ago about picture quality from my cheapest camera (6MP D40) being higher than my 12MP D90. The problem is that with the multipurpose lenses that I prefer there is a serious trade off happening around 9MP on a 1.5 sensor, picture quality plummets and noise becomes more visible. Clever software on the latest cameras can alleviate this the effects of this problem however.

So in fact you are right about good glass paying big dividends - it does with the higher MP cameras but with my most used camera (and cheapest - the D40) it makes little difference as there is so much light reaching the 6MP on the sensor. Similarly on my d700 as it's full frame again I can get away with cheaper glass.

I knew that there was some sort of connection because with the 200mm Micro Nikkor (a superb lens) the D90 was brilliant but on the D40 the same lens was virtually indistinguishable from the 18-200 - both were brilliant!

Malcolm

Worth keeping an eye on here

Canon Rumors

New lenses to match something "possibly in the 40Mp range and it won't be the '5D III'"!

But a $1,000 premium for the new 24-70 f2.8L over the old one - ouch.

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Using a looper and a top makes for a much better furled leader!

Fook!!

My 1Ds II just had a heart attack. It still powers up but I can't operate the shutter. Mirror is up, shutter closed and no response to shutter button.

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Using a looper and a top makes for a much better furled leader!

BTW as you think about lens resolution, it's worth understanding how to read and compare MTF charts. Here is a basic tutorial.

Here is a comparison of the old and new Canon 24-70mm f2.8L at 70mm. If Canon's charts are to be believed, it's quite an improvement:


And at 24mm:

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Using a looper and a top makes for a much better furled leader!