[Leica] DMR test in British Journal of Photography

[rdcb37 at dodo.com.au (Rick Dykstra)]

It looks like the reviewer hasn't been reading the Fred Miranda DMR  
thread.  ;-)

A rolling review like the Miranda thread (and other bulletin board  
discussions) seems more reliable.  Issues can be explored and  
revisited and misconceptions challenged.

Rick.



On 09/09/2005, at 6:36 AM, Simon PJ wrote:

> The review echoes Erwin Puts' comments regarding the significance of
> artefacts due to the lack of AA filter (interestingly the reviewer  
> says that
> Leica was unable to include an AA filter because of the lack of space
> available in front of the shutter):
>
> "However, the number of artefacts the back produces is poor with  
> all the
> lenses I tested. Due to the lack of a low-pass filter, chromatic  
> artefacts
> are very visible in any direction on fine and very fine structures,  
> and
> diagonal structures show some aliasing. This very high level of  
> artefacts is
> a disadvantage in fine structure or texture reproduction, and is  
> relevant to
> photographers wanting to output large prints.
>
> To reduce artefacts from open aperture to aperture f/8, I recommend  
> using
> the built-in anti-aliasing function. A second way is to employ the  
> usually
> unwanted diffraction method - the loss of resolution, when stopping  
> down a
> lens too far, smooths the high frequency details of the optical  
> signal.
>
> This is related to the low-pass filter principle. Stopping down a  
> lens to
> f/11 or f/16 will decrease the artefacts without critical loss of
> resolution."
>
> "Conclusions:
>
> This is a well-designed system best suited to shoot-to-print  
> photography
> which does not require much post-production. The dynamic range and  
> noise
> levels are very good at lower ISO settings, although the highest ISO
> settings are not recommended unless the situation absolutely  
> requires them.
> Tone reproduction is more pleasant than precise, and the sharpening  
> creates
> brilliant edges without critical artefacts.
>
> The digital back delivered higher resolution marks than any digital  
> SLR I
> have tested. On the other hand, the fine detail artefacts can be  
> very high
> to critical, and you will have to take care if you want to create  
> large
> format prints of fine details and textures. The corner shading and  
> optical
> distortion are reduced by the 35mm image circles, and the corner  
> shading is
> well compensated for."
>
>
> On 8/9/05 6:57 pm, "Simon PJ" <simonpj@mac.com> wrote:
>
>
>> The current issue apparently has a test of the DMR "plus four  
>> Leica lenses".
>> Has anybody read this yet? Or been able to access it via the BJP  
>> web site?
>> (My trial subscription has just expired.)
>>
>> Simon.
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>