[Leica] Up-resolution with PS Enhance and with Gigapixel

[Howard L Ritter Jr]

My feeling is that a Qx with a 24mm f/2 lens and 100Mpx sensor (x = 4? 5?) would be all I’ll ever need from now on. That would give an EFL range to 150mm or so with enough pixels to put a 13 x 19” image on my screen or wall. By 2030 I’ll be lucky if I can see to compose a picture or view a print!

—howard

> On Jun 28, 2021, at 2:56 PM, Frank Filippone via LUG <lug at leica-users.org> wrote:
> 
> I am of a similar mind to Howard. Ultimately, a huge pixel count sensor
> combined with a single really first class lens, is all you need. You want
> telephoto?  Crop. You want wide angle? Use the full frame.
> I am using the Sony A7rii now. 42 or so Mp. It is not yet enough to do what
> I want  It would need to be closer to 200mp. That would effectively allows
> your 28mm or 24mm or 21mm lens to be crop-zoomed to 50mm or so with 40-50
> mp. Crop to 100mm effectively and you still have a resolution of 10-12mp.
> Still good for 8x10 prints.
> Range of 2:1 is a pretty good travel zoom lens. 4:1 is even better.
> The real advantage other than only buying one lens is that you are carrying
> only 1 lens. Lighter weight and smaller bulk. Good things.
> Where does Leica fit?  The lens must be high resolution. A Leica specialty.
> 
> Be patient. Technology will catch up with market wants   Maybe it is 3-5
> years away?
> 
> 
> On Mon, Jun 28, 2021 at 6:56 AM Jim Nichols <jhnichols at lighttube.net> wrote:
> 
>> Howard, that is a good comparison.  I agree, for extreme enlargement,
>> Gigapixel appears to be slightly sharper. For my own use, my brief
>> experience with Enhance makes me believe it will serve my needs.
>> 
>> On 6/28/21 10:30 AM, Howard L Ritter Jr via LUG wrote:
>>> I have two reasons for wanting to post just now. One is my recent trip
>> to Iceland, a maiden voyage for my new Q2. The other is the recent
>> availability of PS Enhance and Topaz Gigapixel AI. The two themes fit
>> together nicely because up-res’ing could be a key to making the single-FL,
>> high-Mpx Q2 even more versatile, by increasing the effective FL that can be
>> realized from cropping and enlarging. I speculated that state-of-the-art
>> up-res’ing by a factor of 2 might allow for decent prints (or viewing on a
>> monitor) in the 25”-wide range of down to 25% crops (equivalent to FL
>> 112mm). This is well past the Q’s ‘digital zoom’ limit of 75mm, which of
>> course isn’t anything but a built-in crop since it (properly) doesn’t
>> involve any image manipulation.
>>> 
>>> I’ll be posting an album of images from Iceland soon, as well as my
>> impressions of the Q2. Here’s a first one, with a 117mm-equiv. 24% crop
>> presented natively, after PS Enhance, and after Gigapixel. (I was aiming
>> for a 25% crop, but this is where I landed.)
>>> 
>>> I’d welcome comments on the results themselves as well as your takes on
>> the comparison of the two methods of up-res’ing.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/hlritter/Up-res+test/?g2_fromNavId=x2d271756
>> <
>> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/hlritter/Up-res+test/?g2_fromNavId=x2d271756
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> —howard
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Leica Users Group.
>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>> 
>> --
>> Jim Nichols
>> Tullahoma, TN USA
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 
> -- 
> Frank Filippone
> BMWRed735i at gmail.com
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information