Enough with the Pixels

So this week I got my copy of the new B&H catalog and on the rear cover is an ad for Canon’s new Cinema camera that is capable of 4.5K video. Every time I see this kind of stuff I think to myself, enough with the fake perceived new pixel resolution. The thing that irritates me the most is consumers being suckered into buying these products.

Why am I so annoyed, well because unless you read the articles about it over the last couple of years, most neuroscientists agree that these resolutions are undetectable by the human eye.

"There's going to be some density beyond which you can't do any better because of the limits of your eye," said Don Hood, a professor of ophthalmology at Columbia University, in a phone interview with NBC News.

A person's field of vision covers about 200 degrees, a little more than a semicircle. At arm's length their index finger's fingernail will appear to be about the width of one of those degrees. Imagine that fingernail covered in 120 alternating black and white stripes — being able to discern those stripes at that distance is just about the theoretical limit of the human eye.

In reality, though, hardly anyone has such superb vision. In fact, most people would be unable to discern pixels or lines twice that size. And whether a phone or tablet display meets that standard depends on how far it it is from the viewer. In a living room, a viewer's 40- to 60-inch TV is positioned at a fixed distance, probably seven to nine feet away. Unless pixel-hungry TV fans buy far larger set, or push their couches much closer, any increases in resolution simply won't be perceived.

Most experts agree that 3D was a more meaningful invention than 4K because at least 3D can be seen by the human eye.

So if piling on more pixels isn't the next big thing — despite what TV makers and retailers will try to tell shoppers over and over again — what is? Experts said there are plenty of ways displays could improve.

Neuroscientist point to newly developed "quantum dot" technology for displays that is already leading to far better color representation on some devices. Advancements in dynamic range, leading to displays capable of showing light and shadow in movies and games the way we see them in real life.

When you're in a scene where there's indoor stuff, outdoor stuff, glossy materials reflecting other lights ... that dynamic range is huge,. Consumer-grade displays don't get that stuff right.

Some of the great masters, the painters, they knew things about light and shadow. They kind of knew instinctively how the retina works. In other words, perhaps the secret to a better TV is hidden in the smile of the Mona Lisa.

So, keep all of this in mind, not only when you buy TVs and other displays, but also when buying newer cameras. If you think your customers will prefer the new 4.5K or 5K video, you are wasting your time, better to stick with what actually works, rather than having clients upset because you shot their wedding in 5K and they cannot see a quality difference.


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Light Field Photography

This week I wanted to write about a new style of photography that I have recently started playing with, called Light Field photography.

A light field camera, also known as a plenoptic camera, captures information about the light field emanating from a scene; that is, the intensity of light in a scene, and also the direction that the light rays are traveling in space. This contrasts with a conventional camera, which records only light intensity.

In this image, the focus is on the mailbox.

The first light field camera was proposed by Gabriel Lippman in 1908, and he called his concept “integral photography”. Lippmann's experimental results included crude integral photographs made by using a plastic sheet embossed with a regular array of microlenses, or by partially embedding very small glass beads, closely packed in a random pattern, into the surface of the photographic emulsion.

In 2004, a team at Stanford University Computer Graphics Laboratory used a 16-megapixel camera with a 90,000-microlens array (meaning that each microlens covers about 175 pixels, and the final resolution is 90 kilopixels) to demonstrate that pictures can be refocused after they are taken.

Lytro Inc. was founded in 2006 by Res Ng, a graduate of Stanford University and inventor of the Lytro Light Field camera line.

In this version of the same shot as above, the focus is on the car.

Features of a light-field camera include:
    1) Variable depth of field and "refocusing": Lytro's "Focus Spread" feature allows the depth of field (depth of focus) of a 2 dimensional representation of a Lytro image to be expanded after a picture has been taken. Instead of having to set the focus at a particular distance, "Focus Spread" allows more of an 2D image to be in focus. In some cases this may be the entire 2D image field. Users also are able to "refocus" 2D images at particular distances for artistic effects. The ILLUM allows the "refocus-able" and "Focus Spreadable" range to be selected using the optical focus and zoom rings on the lens. The ILLUM also features "focus bracketing" to extend the refocusable range by capturing 3 or 5 consecutive images at different depths.
  
    2) Speed: Because there is less need to focus the lens before taking a picture, a light field camera can capture images more quickly than conventional point-and-shoot digital cameras. This is an advantage in sports photography, for example, where many pictures are lost because the cameras auto-focus system cannot be kept pointed precisely at a fast moving subject.
   
    3) Low-light sensitivity: The ability to adjust focus in post-processing allows the use of larger apertures than are feasible on conventional cameras, thus enabling photography in low-light environments.
   
    4) 3D images: Since a plenoptic camera records depth information, stereo images can be constructed in software from a single plenoptic image capture.

Wedding side by side, image from PetaPixel

 I have recently started using a Lytro Illum camera myself and I like the camera a great deal. Is it perfect for every situation, probably not, but one of the nice aspects of the camera is if you are shooting sports, you can shoot faster with the Lytro Illum as you don’t have to worry about whether or not the AF can keep up. Since the images can be re-focused in the camera or Lytro’s Desktop processing software, you can just shoot away at a football game and then put the images in proper focus later. Some wedding photographers have begun to embrace the Lytro camera as they can take one shot of a bride and groom like this sample image and shift the focus from him to her in a single shot and then export both versions for print.

I have had my Lytro Illum for a few weeks now and I can say that the camera is certainly worth a try, I have captured some really fantastic images with it. Is the Lytro Illlum for everyone? Of course not, but if you have the extra $350 to spend and want to take your creativity to the next level, go ahead and give it a try!



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