Paul J. Svetlik Loc: Colorado

Wait and see.

Nitroclimber Loc: Nebraska

I love my RX10III! It is great for indoor sports photography, birds, wildlife, low light and portrait photography. My other camera is a Canon 5D Mark III. They both take good pictures, but the Sony is always available for a quick shot and competes well with my Canon!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

With a 1" sensor, image softness due to diffraction is already present at F5.6, noticeable at F8 and completely awful at F16. There would be no point in having a smaller aperture.

a6k Loc: Detroit & Sanibel

Gene, I'm not disputing your statement but I don't quite understand it. The lens on my RX10 when zoomed out, not even to maximum, is F4. As you know, it's a 220 mm lens at maximum zoom (real mm's, not "equivalent").

So why does the size of the sensor affect the diffraction? The size of the aperture is a function of the focal length and the "F stop". Does the light know when it passes the hole how big the sensor is?

I'm just not understanding this.

tjw47 Loc: Michigan

Equivalent F stops are the ratio of the sensor sizes the ratio of the RX10 is almost 3 compared to full frame. Your F5.6 would be equivalent to F16 F8 would be F22 & F16 would be F44!
Your sensor is only 13.2 X 8.8 mm!

bnsf

Thank you

a6k Loc: Detroit & Sanibel

I have seen the concept of equivalent F stops before. Notably, Tony Northrup believes in them.

IMHO they are an erroneous concept. When I set my 220 mm lens at F4 then the diameter of the aperture is 220÷4=55 mm. In the same light with the same lens on different size sensors all set at ISO 100 the exposure will be the same for practical purposes, not greatly different which is the logical result of using equivalent F stops.

If you insist on thinking of that lens as 600 mm because you cropped the image (the sensor) then it would be true. But the light going through the aperture does not know any of that. The same lens, if you you could put it on a FF camera would still have the same inherent behavior of light. It's not a 600 mm lens; we just say that to make an easy comparison of angles of view. 200 vs 600 is easier for ordinary mortals to comprehend. 2 degrees vs 6 degrees is harder to understand quickly.

Diffraction is light scattering.

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/diffraction-photography.htm

Cambridge includes a calculation of diffraction limiting based on pixel size and that is logical with respect to the circle of confusion's appearance, especially when making enlargements. But there is no 1:1 relationship between sensor dimensions and pixel pitch. For example, a FF camera of today's designs has anywhere from 20 MP to around 60. Logically, then, the pixel pitch will also vary by the same proportion of 3x.

They are saying, in effect, that more and smaller pixels will make the same fuzzy edges more obvious.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

This may help:

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/diffraction-photography.htm

https://www.photopills.com/calculators/diffraction#:~:text=Pixel%20size%3A%20The%20size%20of,2.5%20times%20the%20Pixel%20size.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airy_disk

The diffraction limit is not a hard limit. Diffraction occurs when the size of the Airy Disk - which is defined as the "best-focused spot of light that a perfect lens with a circular aperture can make", and it is calculated based on F-number of the lens and the wavelength of the light passing through an optical system), is more than 2.5X bigger in diameter than the pixel that is capturing it.

So, while in it's purest form it has nothing to do with the camera, it has everything to do with the camera sensor size, pixel density, etc.

The Cambridge in Color page has a few interactive tools to see how this works, and the advanced option of the Diffraction Limit Calculator takes into consideration print size, viewing distance, eye sight, pixel resolution, aperture and sensor size.

Using the advanced calculator you can see that if you use a 20 mp 1" sensor, and you set the circle of confusion to be based on pixels, F5.6 will be diffraction limited (Airy disk diameter is > circle of confusion diamter), while F4 will be fine, when viewing images on a screen. One can use smaller apertures when viewing prints at "normal" distances, due to the human eye's limit of acuity.

This is pretty thick stuff, but just use the tools and charts and you'll be fine.

(Download)

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

She got it and charged the battery. I was shocked and alarmed when she threatened to return it. Why would she do that? She had read that for a point-n-shoot/bridge it was big and heavy. She thinks her hands are small. I calmed down when she smiled and said, "This feels good. It has a good hand grip." I guess pictures are secondary to tactile feel!

I thought it would be fun to buy her some surprise stuff for her camera. I showed her a neoprene "glove" for the camera. She said, "I have one on order."

When I bought the RX100 (version 1) shirt pocket camera years ago I remembered that the only way to make sense of the Sony menu were books by Alexander White and Gary Friedman. Just when I was about to push the buy, surprise and get it by Sunday button, she said, "The Sony manual is terrible and I found this great book for my kindle. It is written by somebody named White."

I guess it is time to stay out of the way!

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

She knew that and so did we!! What took you so long?
Mark

bnsf

Enjoy. Show us some of your photos after you take them.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I would be happy to show my photos. But these will be her photos. I don't get to use her cameras, computer or sewing machine.

bnsf

Well if you would ask her nicely maybe she you be happy to post one of her beginning photos she has taken with her new camera.

Enclosed is a photo l took a couple of weeks ago as l was held at Kandiyohi, Mn waiting to get train into the Willmar

bnsf

BNSF yard. Sorry I hit the send button on cell phone by mistake. now I am going to finish this the rest of this posting on computer.
After waiting for the dispatcher to give us the clearance to enter the yard so we can drop off 10 cars and pick up 20 more, do airbrake test then after everything is complete will will head out to our final stop at Marshal where we will change crews and the next crew will take over and head towards Lincoln, NE. We will spend the night and return next day either via train or a crew cab hauling us back to Fridley.