Samsung 16-50mm f/2-2.8 S Reviewed

ShatteredSky wrote:

Thanks for the review! Concerning your effective resolution results: does this mean it would make no sense to use, let's say, the NX1 at 28 MP. Does the effective resolution of a lens rise when you use a higher resolving sensor with it?

Regards

My number is just a simple calculation based on lw/ph. So yes, a higher resolution sensor should cause results to rise. I suspect at say 50mm where it isn't hitting the max, that it won't rise as much. I added that as it is a different way to view the information in the above charts. What I see from the 16-50mm is that it will still benefit from a higher resolution sensor, but maybe not as much at corners (except BSI should in theory help corner performance).

Your final photo resolution is the resolution of the entire system. That is lens MTF * sensor MTF * processing MTF, if you print you would have the printer MTF in there. What I give is a system resolution. As long as your system remains the same between lenses, you get a decent depiction of how different lenses perform on that system. This is why places say not to compare system MTF charts between different systems (it is probably safe to compare trends, but don't compare specific numbers too much). The point here is if you increase sensor MTF, your system MTF will increase even if the lens doesn't change.

As jennyrae says, the sensor plays a large part in system resolution. I find that the A7R tends to do no better in the corners than A7 and sometimes worse, but the center is stronger.

Eric