Sharpness and AA filter on DSLR?

[cowpunk52]

Hey Cowpunks52. You're totally right. I want to apologize for my negative attitude. I should just move on.

I think I'm just disgruntled towards Canon because like everyone else, I bought into the whole DSLR revolution in 2008 and bought a ton of Canon lenses thinking they would fix all the known issues and we would have a great camera. But year after year, it was just one disappointment after another. The latest 5D3 was just such a let down in a series of let downs. I just find it sad to see all these people on this forum are scrambling to find ways to make their 5D3 what it should be. Seeing people spend $600 to have MaxMax butcher their camera's OLPF to praying to Baby Jesus that Alex (who is awesome) can help the 5D3 find it's potential is sad.

But yeah, once again, I'm sorry for the negativity. 2012 is a great year for us stuck with Canon lenses because BM uses EOS mount, the Metabones and soon-to-be Berger EOS to NEX adaptor, and even RED has an EOS mount. So I'm stoked on that.

I made a ton of good work on my Canon's over the last few years and the future is brighter because of it

That's the thing - don't take camera specs and prices personally! It'll just get in the way of doing the work you want to do. Options exist now to make great images - and hey, if some people want to butcher and hack their camera, it's their choice - and it's not right or wrong. As long as technology has existed, people have tried to tweak it to their liking and they'll never stop, even if the "perfect" camera is released. Perfect is only a relative term, and different for everybody. You shot with what works yesterday, you can shoot with what works today - and tomorrow, something will work even better and you can shoot with that. Just keep shooting.

[gonzo_entertainment]

If I had the $2K difference between my used MK2 and a new MK3 laying around with nothing else to spend it on I'd already have it, and wouldn't install ML on it, and wouldn't have anybody hack it up. I'd use it and think "Nice upgrade. pretty much all aliasing and moire gone, real HD out of the HDMI, AND 60 fps, that's most of the issues people had with the MK2 resolved." Or maybe I'd go with a totally different camera, it would depend on what was on the market at that exact time and how it impacted my current support gear.

[Samuel H]

wow, we're trigger happy here these days...
sorry if I was wrong about the AA filter removal as a solution to the softness issue - I don't have a 5D3 (yet), and I don't have any interest in such an aggressive mod, so I don't follow developments closely - but I had some hope that ML could bring whatever benefits it has with a much less aggressive procedure

what's the new consensus about it, then? stuff looks sharper but there's no actual extra detail? if that's so, and aliasing/moire is not a problem, I'd aggree that it's no miracle cure, but it's easier than always having to add sharpness in post

[gonzo_entertainment]

It's there (the filter) to get rid of aliasing and moire. If you remove it you'll get rid of the built in softness it adds at the cost of the return of aliasing and moire.

[maarek]

It's there (the filter) to get rid of aliasing and moire. If you remove it you'll get rid of the built in softness it adds at the cost of the return of aliasing and moire.

But from 22mp PHOTOGRAPHS. In 2mp video that filter doesn't do anything. That's why I find it very odd that some people are claiming that resolution is better.

[Samuel H]

I'd change that to: "That's why I find it very odd that some people are claiming that it has ANY effect on video images"

[Mattoid]

I'd change that to: "That's why I find it very odd that some people are claiming that it has ANY effect on video images"

It has an effect. It completely f**ks up the colour. But nothing else.

[Samuel H]

hehe, I understand how you wouldn't want that...
it's a byproduct of the IR filter going away too with the mod, right?

[jcs]

Not clear if there were any shenanigans (in-camera or post sharpening), however I don't get footage this sharp and detailed without post-sharpening (even with a 50mm prime or the ultra-sharp 70-200 F2.8L II):


Beach scene:
https://vimeo.com/39594898

Bill's MaxMax mod, which kept the dust-cleaner attached, was not as sharp and detailed. Removing just one OLPF doesn't make sense either, but pulling just the dust-cleaner connector might do something interesting (and is easily reversed). If the Canon OLPF's work like Nikon's (http://www.nikonusa.com/en_US/IMG/Im..._schematic.pdf), each OLPF simply creates an additional photon/wave copy (two points become 4 points), once horizontal and once vertical. This works via a system which uses circular polarizers. It appears in the beach video a circular polarizer was used (variable ND). Not clear if a circular polarizer and one OLPF removed can do anything optically, though I did see an apparent increase in sharpness (perhaps just microcontrast) when using a gen 1 Fader ND with the 24-105 F4L, neither of which are particularly sharp. A resolution chart test showed no improvement, though (if anything, aliasing increased; however aliasing isn't visible in the real-world test):

Raw clip, from camera (available for download):
https://vimeo.com/40107424

Graded & sharpened:
https://vimeo.com/40200361

The single-OLPF removal and dust connector disconnect apparent increase in sharpness and detail has not been explained yet (again, provided there was no sharpening performed). The panning and tilting with bricks/tiles/shingles didn't show aliasing.

[nigelbb]

Enough of this foolish wishful thinking. Those clips look no sharper than any other decently sharp 5D2 or 5D3 footage. This clip shows how sharp the 5D2 can look. In fact it looks sharper than either of those clips from hacked cameras but I am not claiming some magic modification that released the 5D2's full potential. It's just well exposed in focus & with the light just right.