Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.zlr (More info?)

The S2IS in-camera sharpening has a tendency to create jagged edges on
narrow parrallell lines, as can be seen on test photos such as this one:
http://www.cyberphoto.se/bildexemp [...] 6ce0f339d6
The sharpness can however be adjusted in the manual setting modes. There is
a setting called "low sharpness". This makes away with almost all of the
jaggedness, and is not a softening effect at all.
Iinstead, in my opinion the "Low sharpness" setting should be called
"Moderate Sharpening", and the standard sharpness stetting should to be
called "Excessive Sharpening" as this is what it does.
More sharpness than the "low sharpness" setting is much better applied,
using PhotoShop.
The Panasonic FZ5 has also produced jagged lines in the same test as above,
and could probably be adjusted in a similar manner too.
Most SLR's have very moderate in-camera sharpening, and it is a pity that
zlr's should suffer from bad compromizes such as this.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.zlr (More info?)

per wrote:
> The S2IS in-camera sharpening has a tendency to create jagged edges on
> narrow parrallell lines, as can be seen on test photos such as this
> one:
> http://www.cyberphoto.se/bildexemp [...] 6ce0f339d6
> The sharpness can however be adjusted in the manual setting modes.
> There is a setting called "low sharpness". This makes away with
> almost all of the jaggedness, and is not a softening effect at all.
> Iinstead, in my opinion the "Low sharpness" setting should be called
> "Moderate Sharpening", and the standard sharpness stetting should to
> be called "Excessive Sharpening" as this is what it does.
> More sharpness than the "low sharpness" setting is much better
> applied, using PhotoShop.
> The Panasonic FZ5 has also produced jagged lines in the same test as
> above, and could probably be adjusted in a similar manner too.
> Most SLR's have very moderate in-camera sharpening, and it is a pity
> that zlr's should suffer from bad compromizes such as this.

If my Panasonic FZ5 camera produced pictures like that I would be taking
it back for a refund! The image looks as if it has had too much JPEG
compression applied. What does the image look like when printed out and
viewed at normal viewing distances? Viewing at 1:1 on a monitor may not
be representative of the final viewing conditions.

When adjusting sharpening, I would try and go for a value which produced
no overshoots on light-grey to dark-grey edges, whilst retaining the edge
width in the minimum number of pixels, although some people with CRT (or
poorly adjusted) monitors might find such images "soft".

Sadly, it may be that manufacturers think that purchasers of their ZLR
cameras will be impressed by "sharp images with vibrant colours". Thanks
goodness you can adjust this effect away.

Cheers,
David

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.zlr (More info?)

The FZ5 test pic I mentioned:
http://www.cyberphoto.se/bildexemp [...] aa221aa6fc

"David J Taylor"
<david-taylor@blueyonder.co.not-this-bit.nor-this-part.uk.invalid>
wrote in: news:A2hSe.101537$G8.19790@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...

> If my Panasonic FZ5 camera produced pictures like that I would be taking
> it back for a refund! The image looks as if it has had too much JPEG
> compression applied. What does the image look like when printed out and
> viewed at normal viewing distances? Viewing at 1:1 on a monitor may not
> be representative of the final viewing conditions.
>
> When adjusting sharpening, I would try and go for a value which produced
> no overshoots on light-grey to dark-grey edges, whilst retaining the edge
> width in the minimum number of pixels, although some people with CRT (or
> poorly adjusted) monitors might find such images "soft".
>
> Sadly, it may be that manufacturers think that purchasers of their ZLR
> cameras will be impressed by "sharp images with vibrant colours". Thanks
> goodness you can adjust this effect away.
>
> Cheers,
> David
>

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.zlr (More info?)

per wrote:
> The FZ5 test pic I mentioned:
> http://www.cyberphoto.se/bildexemp [...] aa221aa6fc
>

Per,

I believe this picture is showing heat haze, that's all. Where the hot
atmosphere distorts images taken over hot surfaces (such as the road).

Was it a hot day?

Cheers,
David

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.zlr (More info?)

>> The FZ5 test pic I mentioned:
>> http://www.cyberphoto.se/bildexemp [...] aa221aa6fc
>>
>
> Per,
>
> I believe this picture is showing heat haze, that's all. Where the hot
> atmosphere distorts images taken over hot surfaces (such as the road).
>
> Was it a hot day?
>
> Cheers,
> David
I did not take those pics myself, they are from a camera shop home page.
Early spring in Umeå, shloud not be a hot day anyway. But I feel that pics
taken on a cloudy show less such jagged stuff than those taken when the sun
is bright.
I tend to believe it's a combination of heat haze, and the shortcomings of
the image processors to handle that.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.zlr (More info?)

per wrote:
>>> The FZ5 test pic I mentioned:
>>> http://www.cyberphoto.se/bildexemp [...] aa221aa6fc
>>>
>>
>> Per,
>>
>> I believe this picture is showing heat haze, that's all. Where the
>> hot atmosphere distorts images taken over hot surfaces (such as the
>> road). Was it a hot day?
>>
>> Cheers,
>> David
> I did not take those pics myself, they are from a camera shop home
> page. Early spring in Umeå, shloud not be a hot day anyway. But I
> feel that pics taken on a cloudy show less such jagged stuff than
> those taken when the sun is bright.
> I tend to believe it's a combination of heat haze, and the
> shortcomings of the image processors to handle that.

Well, perhaps not, but I've known it be very hot in Umeå when I've been
there! I was trying to see what could cause the shape distortion in the
objects, and heat-haze was the obvious cause. The effects are exaggerated
when using a very long focal length (narrow field of view) which both the
S2 IS and the FZ5 have. You really need indoor pictures to make
judgements without the problems of atmospheric effects.

Just for fun, here's a sample from my own Panasonic FZ5:

ftp://ftp.blueyonder.co.uk/store1 [...] 953-28.jpg

This was a hot day, at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. However, we
were in the stands so the optical path was not immediately above a heated
surface.

Cheers,
David