Camera performance vs processing technology

With the imminent release of a new Nikon SLR likely this week, I thought it would be interesting to ask whether people thought that the improvements in camera performance (higher ISO sensitivity for example) will actually translate into better images.

De-noising algorithms in software have improved so much of late that I find even "old" noisy images can be cleaned up and improved significantly simply by running them through newer software.

My own experience going from D2Xs to D7000 has been that the newer camera is so improved that it has opened up new photographic opportunities that I simply wouldn't have been able to shoot with the older camera. However, I still find that running noisy D2Xs images through newer software results in a very marked quality improvement.

It is likely that there will be a Lightroom 4 release (and Photoshop CS6) this year, which will no doubt incorporate further improved algorithms.

So should we hold on to "old" cameras and upgrade software, or vica versa? Or perhaps both? Will newer cameras simply expand our creative potential (which the D7000 has certainly done for me)?

I'd love to hear people's comments on this.

Adam

With the imminent release of a new Nikon SLR likely this week, I thought it would be interesting to ask whether people thought that the improvements in camera performance (higher ISO sensitivity for example) will actually translate into better images.

 

De-noising algorithms in software have improved so much of late that I find even "old" noisy images can be cleaned up and improved significantly simply by running them through newer software.

 

My own experience going from D2Xs to D7000 has been that the newer camera is so improved that it has opened up new photographic opportunities that I simply wouldn't have been able to shoot with the older camera. However, I still find that running noisy D2Xs images through newer software results in a very marked quality improvement.

 

It is likely that there will be a Lightroom 4 release (and Photoshop CS6) this year, which will no doubt incorporate further improved algorithms.

 

So should we hold on to "old" cameras and upgrade software, or vica versa? Or perhaps both? Will newer cameras simply expand our creative potential (which the D7000 has certainly done for me)?

 

I'd love to hear people's comments on this.

 

Adam

I think this is kind of true, given the limitations of our main display options now - screens. At the level of resolution most things are displayed, software can make for an awful lot of shortcomings in an original image. But while it can make it cleaner or sharper or smooth colour graduations it cant really add in things that werent in the original image, unless you're essentially generating a fake image by using data from other images. And even those changes are basically guesses that may look better but arent necessarily an accurate reproduction of the original subject.

But ever higher resolution and colour depth screens are coming, eg the new 4k TV screen recently announced. As this happens I expect that any lack of detail captured will be harder to replace with software, a bit like a computer image on a TV screen can look more convincing than when you see it on a movie screen.

Otara

With the imminent release of a new Nikon SLR likely this week, I thought it would be interesting to ask whether people thought that the improvements in camera performance (higher ISO sensitivity for example) will actually translate into better images.

 

De-noising algorithms in software have improved so much of late that I find even "old" noisy images can be cleaned up and improved significantly simply by running them through newer software.

 

 

Adam

I think denoising algorithms provide a cleaner looking image but do not restore image detail, particularly in the shadows, that has been degraded by the noise in the first place. A fashion pro I know demonstrated this to me a while back. He insists that when he shoots a model in a black outfit, no other camera brings out the detail in the blacks like a D3s, and chooses it over his Hasselblad and D3x for these specific shoots.

The D4 coming out on Friday looks like it will take it up a notch.... ISO 104.000 native, insane.

I think that the limitation is nearly always the photographer! There are very few of us who completely exhaust the creative potential of either camera or software. I think that specific examples of technology enabling a specific type of image capture are interesting too. The example of a "lower" performance camera out performing a "higher" one is an example of this. I think that for underwater use there are often examples of this being the case.

It is a great point about screen resolution and not one I had really considered. Given that most pictures not get viewed on screen rather than in print, perhaps I should ask whether computing/screen technology is going to make the biggest difference?

It looks like the Nikon announcement may be next week now-it has been a prolonged gestation!

Adam