2023 big year for Fuji?

jbuzzinco wrote:

Rod McD wrote:

jbuzzinco wrote:

jhorse wrote:

jbuzzinco wrote:

Fujifilm needs to update the rest of their lenses that don't resolve to match the new 40mp sensor. Given their limited R&D and manufacturing capacity, I'm wondering what will be prioritized. Will they work on new cameras with the new sensor or update more lenses?

Not sure that is necessary, but I agree that it would be welcome. Here is a quote from the Amateur Photographer review of the XT5:

"Clearly, some Fujifilm users might be concerned about whether their existing lenses will be sharp enough for the 40MP sensor, especially after the firm released a list of those required to get the most from it. But my advice would be not to worry about it. You’ll never get worse results from any given lens with a higher resolution sensor; instead, it’s just a question of whether the extra detail you record is fully proportional to the increased pixel count. If you’re happy with the lenses you’ve got, they’ll still work fine on the X-T5. And that 40MP resolution gives so much scope for cropping if you need it."

Fujifilm X-T5 review: 40MP stills sensation - Amateur Photographer

Although I mostly use a 16-55/f2.8 on my XT5, I sometimes use my older 18-55, which is not on this marketing ploy list, and it performs just fine.

Actually, you could get worse results. A lens which cannot resolve to a point smaller than the pixel size on the sensor will cause diffraction at all apertures. That would make it impossible to achieve any high contrast lines in the image.

No. You're conflating a number of different concepts. The lens' resolution capability does not cause diffraction. It's a product of aperture and wavelength. It's there anyway, but the higher res sensor makes it possible to see the impact of diffraction at a wider aperture. A lens of low resolution capability may not extract the optimum from a high res sensor, but the image will not be worse than the same image from the same lens on a lower res sensor.

Regards, Rod

Diffraction is first affected by the diameter of the optical clear aperture. This occurs even with the entrance pupil (aperture) wide open. Diffraction over the edges of the mechanical aperture occurs as it is closed down. Together, these determine the diameter of the airy disk projected on the imaging surface.

If a lens is unable to focus a single point source down to an area smaller than a photosite on the sensor, a light point source is projected over the edges of a photosite rather than entirely within it.

Semantics aside, if a lens is unable to focus a point smaller than a photosite, you will not be able to render any pure black/white contrasting edges. Everything will be shades of gray. The airy disk of the point will spill into surrounding photosites. Projecting the same point through the same lens onto a lower resolution sensor where the entire airy disk is within a single photosite will give a cleanly defined edge.

The end result is the same. The airy disk projected on the sensor is too large. It does not matter whether the diffraction is caused by the optical clear aperture or the mechanical entrance pupil aperture.

With your clarification  I don't think we're in disagreement on the nature of diffraction, but I don't agree with you on the outcome in application.

You're arguing that a lens that does not resolve to the optimum of the sensor actually performs worse on a high res sensor than it does on a low res sensor.

Theory aside, experience does not bear out this argument.  Sensor resolutions have increased significantly across all brands in the last ten to fifteen years.   If your proposition were correct,  the forums would be full of the evidence - carefully controlled images from a given lens on a low res camera would demonstrate better definition/detail than the same image from the same lens on a high res camera.  That hasn't happened and isn't happening.

The experience is that lenses keep working just as well as higher res sensors come along.  They may or may not not perform any better; they may not extract the optimum from the higher res sensor; and they may not perform as well as new top-of-the-range high res lenses.  But all of those things are different propositions from arguing that any given lens actually performs worse on a high res sensor than a low res sensor.

This may beg the question as to whether someone who plans to keep lower res lenses will extract the full benefits from investing in a higher res sensor.  That's up to them to decide and they may value a lens for characteristics other than sharpness anyway.   Bear in mind that later cameras and lenses also offer other developments, so people tend to find a suite of reasons to upgrade.

In the end, diffraction is one of the lesser factors in getting a sharp image.  The usual culprits like focus inaccuracy, subject movement, camera movement, inadequate DOF, inadequate SS, excessive ISO, thermal air movements, etc, etc, may well be more critical in any given situation.  OTOH, one should never ignore it completely....;-)

Cheers, Rod