more important for a lot of other people is that the 5 megapixel advanced P&S shoot cameras have been doing just about exactly as high quality for a lot lower price.
i did a comparison while i was away on vacation and shot some macro pictures with the same compositions using my Nikon Coolpix 5000 and my FA* 80-200 f2.8 with the Canon 500D close-up lens. the close-up lens decreases sharpness a little, but only to the point where it is about as good as my FA 24-90 f3.5-4.5 instead of being noticeably better. on an 11x14 print on my Epson 1280 where i use the full frame of the digital camera and i use the minimal cropped full frame of the film camera, the digital image appears sharper. this is shot on Provia 100F and scanned at 4000 dpi with my Nikon Coolscan 4000ED. Digital ICE softens the image a little, but i can still see the individual dye clouds in the slide. in my experience shooting Provia 100F side by side with my digital camera, the only time film is a clear winner in terms of resolution and sharpness is when i am using my FA 50mm f2.8 macro. my FA* 24 f2.0 and FA* 80-200 f2.8 show a less marked advantage over the digital camera. the highly rated FA 24-90 f3.5-4.5 and Sigma 15-30 f3.5-4.5 don't show more resolution most of the time. my conclusion is that unless you use only FA* or Limited lenses, the 6 megapixel sensor isn't going to be the limiting factor in terms of sharpness. Herb.... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cotty" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Pentax List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 16:50 Subject: RE: *istD and the future (WAS: Re: Digital Formats and Partial Coverage Lenses) > *That's* the thing that will sell 6MP DSLRs - *that's* the thing that has > sold Mark - and *that's* what sold me on it a year ago. Printed as nice > big blowups to that size, that's all we need, and in that case, it equals > the (perceived) quality of film.
