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Nikon D850

Sensor Resolution: Technical Challenges in Exploiting It

This page discusses the issues involved in exploiting the resolution gain of the Nikon D850 over its D810 and other predecessors. The general principles apply to any type of camera.

Depth of field versus sensor photosite size

Depth of field is razor thin in order to fully exploit the sensor resolution: the D850 has 4.3 micron pixels, but conventional depth of field tables reference a sloppy 30 microns, which is a circle of confusion (CoC) that is (30/4.3)^2 = 7X larger in diameter and 48 times larger in area than a 4.3 micron pixel—a laughable but not very funny joke on those looking for more resolution. Focus stacking is the only generally useful solution to the resolution and depth of field challenge.

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Diglloyd DAP is DSLR-oriented, but also contains workflow and other topics. Much of the focus is on Canon and Nikon but also Pentax and Pentax medium format.

Special emphasis is placed on lens evaluation, focusing on Canon and Nikon and Sigma lenses, but with a few others like Rokinon/Samyang.

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Optical quality analysis of field curvature, focus shift, sharpness, flare, distortion, and performance in the field.

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