Binocular glass vs lens

-Tom-

-Tom-

Active member
I've been using my little Oly 12x24 binocular these days and I have to say I'm amazed to say the least, by the quality of the view I get...I tried to compare similar "magnification" with my 14-140 lens on GH2 and I have to say it's nowhere near when looking through viewfinder of a camera vs similar angle of view with binoculars...

Are there differences in quality of glass used for binoculars vs photo lens, or is it just my subjective impression?

PS I was looking at the sea in the distance in the sunset...and with binoculars I was able to see better DR than with the photo lens...
 
-Tom- said:
I've been using my little Oly 12x24 binocular these days and I have to say I'm amazed to say the least, by the quality of the view I get...I tried to compare similar "magnification" with my 14-140 lens on GH2 and I have to say it's nowhere near when looking through viewfinder of a camera vs similar angle of view with binoculars...

Are there differences in quality of glass used for binoculars vs photo lens, or is it just my subjective impression?

PS I was looking at the sea in the distance in the sunset...and with binoculars I was able to see better DR than with the photo lens...
Click to expand...

Yeah, eye-balls vs camera sensor... The eyes are gonna win.
 
I've just had my vintage lenses cine-modded - the near focus isn't great, but they're still as sharp as ever:-)
 
-Tom- said:
Is there any camera out there with similar DR to human i ?
Click to expand...
Human sight actually doesn't have great dynamic range, it constantly adjusts "exposure" depending on what we are looking at. What wee see isn't "real" like a photograph or video, it's an image created by our brains using all of the information captured by our eyes.

This should help: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/cameras-vs-human-eye.htm

There are quite a few cameras that capture 14+ stops, more than enough in most situations to capture all of the visible dynamic range in a particularly scene - Arri Alexa, Red, Sony F3/F5/55. The new Red sensor should be up around 18 stops or more. There are cameras that capture light beyond the visible spectrum, but that's another subject...
 
i think any HD camera with zoom lens is way better than eye today.
but in a camera the story stops at sensor and then it goes bad at viewfinder or codec stage, while after your eyes, you got a brain.
that make all the difference.
 
Liam Hall said:
I've just had my vintage lenses cine-modded - the near focus isn't great, but they're still as sharp as ever:-)
Click to expand...

I just had my right eye lens replaced, and I think unfortunately due to my major astigmatism, I'll still be having to use dopters on the results. There was a question of the new lens being 'yellow' or 'clear'... apparently as one ages the lenses one was born with 'yellow', and cut some amount of UV-A/B and the top end of blue... so the yellow replacements just replicate that.

Next week the left eye lens will be replaced...

The myopia is totally cleared up... so no near focus... or macro lens capability... without additional dopters...
 
Oh, so our eyes/brains do the stacking like Photomatix does, in real time? We actually see in HDR?

I still can't wrap my head around the notion that camera "sees" better...I was trying to shoot a construction yard today, the complete area was surrounded by trees, and the sun was setting...but I saw the blue sky and the machinery on the site.

The camera gave me two options (without blowing the exposure or bracketing) - blue sky and black outlined machinery, or washed out skies and some visible details on the ground.
 
Cameras will never have the same ability as the human eye, until you tie a supercomputer to it that is free to interpret the image based on experience.

The human eye/brain combination will always outperform a camera. Because there is a lot of things going on behind the scene in the interpretation of the visual image transmitted to you brain. Gaps are filled in, interpretations, color correction........

For example, if you saw a stop sign in yellow......it would take you longer to interpret it as a stop sign, your brain would try to make the connection outside the red color, but it would try to make the color correction because it said "stop", it was octagonal, it was at an intersection. (of course, using a US stop sign as the exemplar)

And that is part of what would cause confusion. Your brain would be interpreting it and trying to make the connections. Trying to fix what the cognitive mind said it was, the memory of what it should look like, and comparing it to what the visual were showing. If you thought "hey they should be red" when you saw it, that is your brain identifying the wrong pieces to the puzzle and showing you the right ones by mental visualization. Had it been just an off shade of red, and you didn't focus on it, you would more than likely have just remembered it as red.
 
Last edited:
-Tom- said:
You mean it desaturates the horrific look of preset HDR :D
Click to expand...

The human eye is 'crappy' in many senses when compared to lenses and cameras. The most significant difference is the human eye's ability to adjust for conditions over a wider range of lighting that current cameras, and do so 'automagically'. Along with that is 'human image processing'.

The point of 'acute' focus is really very narrow, perhaps 10 degrees at the center of the eye. How this is 'overcome' is that the human can move their eye, hence build a composite of the 'scene' with some brief motions.

We require of our camera lenses to have a 'flat' field for the given imaging area. One can see this sort of effect better at night, because one needs to look slightly off from 'center' to allow the rods to 'see' low illuminated objects. But the resulting image is 'fuzzier' than using the center of the vision field.

In terms of 'shades of grey', 64 seems to be 'the max'. However, what the eye does is perform 'autogain' control, and so the human is given the impression of a wider range, when comparing for example eye adjusted for 'dark', vs 'broad day light'... note also that when one quickly transitions form dark to light, one usually squints or closes one's eyes before one can 'see' in the new lighting condition, or going from 'light to dark' one may take up to 15 minutes to be completely 'adjusted' for the dark.

Speaking of dark, the iris opens up in the dark, and thus the imperfections of the eye's lenses are more noticeable...

There are fine muscles that control the lens in the eye, and as one ages the lens material 'rigidifies'(presbyopia...) and so one loses the ability to accommodate 'near object focus'... from a discussion with the ophthalmologist a few days ago 'infinity focus' for the human eye is about 60 cm, less than 3 feet. (I asked what's the circle of confusion for the human eye... and received a blank look...). The standard eye exam chart is set at 20 feet. The theoretical 'maximum' acuity of the human eye is about 20/8.

In the case of cameras, lenses can change, additional sensitivity can be added, all of course at some cost... and 'size'... so in the sense of 'compact' the eye does win on that point.
 
Does the fact that the human eye/brain (in our present time of course) has to see what the lens/camera is seeing come into judgement? Regardless of how the camera sees objects and shapes in light and shadow.
 
Jimmy Pierce said:
Does the fact that the human eye/brain (in our present time of course) has to see what the lens/camera is seeing come into judgement? Regardless of how the camera sees objects and shapes in light and shadow.
Click to expand...

Think of having a camera with a real time 'mosaic' capability, along with image processing for object identification, and 'enhancing contrast' of such objects...

Which is why the moon looks so big on the horizon... yet does not really change the actual angle subtended during the night with perhaps the small period of refraction very, very close to the horizon...

In a word it is not just the eyeball that is involved in human vision...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top