On 5/9/2016 10:17 AM, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
There has to be an E-M1 II to at least add the 40MP feature of the E-M5 II. I just hope they don't increase the
sensor pixel count. Even the top lenses don't resolve what's already there.
Here, I must strongly disagree. Simple enough. Take a High Res shot and a normal res shot one right after the other.
Convert the HR shot, then downsample to the same dimensions as the regular shot. Overlay 'em on layers, so you can
switch between them.
There is significantly more, cleaner/sharper, visible detail in the HR shot. Clear proof that the lenses have been out
resolving the 16 MP sensors. I tested with the middle of the road 12-50, in normal and micro modes.
Ctein, that great tester and numbers guy, is now shooting an E-M5 II after some discussion and seeing my test shots. He
claims Bayer Array sensors are only about 50% efficient at rendering their raw resolution as converted, RGB pixels. The
nominal resolution is lost in the AA filter and color interpolation process. So, our 16 MP sensor systems are
effectively about 8 MP.
Oly and Panny's latest, the Pen-F and GX8, are 20 MP, and the Pen-F HR mode is proportionally larger. This amounts to
nothing, about a 10% nominal increase in linear resolution. Differences in sensor system, Bayer interpretation and/or AA
filter spec. can make as much or more visible change than this with identical pixel counts. My guess is that this will
be the sensor for the E-M1 II. But even if they go to 24 MP (but see below), it wouldn't amount to much, a 22-23%
increase in nominal rez, visible at 100%, but not much practical change.
For me, the big news will be if they are able to do what they predicted when the HR mode was introduced with the E-M5
II, get total exposure time for HR down to 1/60 sec. That would be a REAL game changer. HR is amazing, but of little
practical value to me in day to day use for my most photographed subjects and situations. 1/60 for eight faster shutter
speed exposures, even with a very few seconds to process into the HR image file, would change everything for me.
This is a bigger deal than one might at first think. That's because really high rez, even on full frame, is quite
difficult. The 24 MP Nikon D750, with AA filter, resolves less detail than the Oly HR mode. With the D810, they went to
36 MP and no AA filter. It sure resolves a lot of detail, AND has terrible moire problems.
<http://www.moosemystic.net/Gallery/tech/X-T1_E-M1_D750/FON.htm> To get that level of resolution, clean, you have to go
with the Oly HR trick, on maybe a 24 MP sensor, or to MF. ImagingResource showed that even MF is not better than Oly HR
in some color resolution ways.
This is another reason to think the E-M1 II will be 20 MP. The E-M5 II HR mode depends on no AA filter, and the pixel
density probably can't get much higher than it is, sans AA filter, without moire problems in normal rez mode.
. . .
I'm sure there's a new E-M1 coming and I want another one so I can go back to having two cameras. But the controls
had better be nearly identical if Oly wants to sell me one.
The 5 II controls are significantly different than the 5 I, for the better as far as I am concerned; much better on/off
switch location, more Fn buttons, more easily identified by touch, and the odd, but useful, mode switch. Given Oly's
history with µ4/3 models, every one, so far, different in control layout than the last, I imagine there will be changes.
H. R. Moose
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What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
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