Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2021/06/28

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Subject: [Leica] Up-resolution with PS Enhance and with Gigapixel
From: hlritter at bex.net (Howard L Ritter Jr)
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2021 18:33:57 -0400
References: <28BF3E40-171F-401D-B642-642F1E08E7A0@bex.net> <346fd01a-5c30-93ea-83ac-b60c8efbf85a@cox.net>

Ken?

My experience so far is similar. A 2x up-res?ed Gigapixel image looks very 
nearly as good as a native image taken at twice the FL with the same lens 
and camera. Processing it through Sharpen sometimes improves it, sometimes 
makes it too ?crunchy? as you say, and sometimes has very little effect. For 
example, applying it to the Gigapixel crop of Selfoss that I posted made it 
barely sharper, at the expense of adding a haloing artifact. But on some of 
my astroimages, applying the two in tandem (Gigapixel ?> Sharpen) works 
fantastically well.

?howard

> On Jun 28, 2021, at 6:27 PM, Ken Carney via LUG <lug at leica-users.org> 
> wrote:
> 
> Howard,
> 
> What I am seeing (on the images I've been playing with) is that Gigapixel 
> adds quite a bit of definition to the raw file.  For example, a 2x 
> Gigapixel image is sharper (in a good way) than the 2x Enhance file, which 
> seems very close to the original cropped raw file..  A 4x Gigapixel viewed 
> at 50% appears identical to the 2X Gigapixel image.  Applying Topaz 
> Sharpen AI to the Enhance file results in "crunchy" sharpness compared to 
> Gigapixel.  Gigapixel seems to be a better way to go, considering that you 
> could go larger than 2x if needed.  Technology is great.  I used to lug 
> 4x5 and 8x10 film cameras, now have a Fuji kit that fits in a small bag 
> with four lenses, and you have taken it steps further.
> 
> Ken
> 
> On 6/28/2021 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
>> 
>> 
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> 
> 
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In reply to: Message from hlritter at bex.net (Howard L Ritter Jr) ([Leica] Up-resolution with PS Enhance and with Gigapixel)
Message from kcarney1 at cox.net (Ken Carney) ([Leica] Up-resolution with PS Enhance and with Gigapixel)