Resolving Questions about MTF
|
Resolving Questions about MTF |
| Most optical
engineers are familiar with the MTF test, at least
conceptually. But many may not know the answer to
the most basic question about MTF: Why bother?
Consider the images below: |
Yellow
Car 1 |
Yellow
Car 2 |
 |
 |
| Which image
is better? Everyone I've shown these images to prefers
Car #1. Most people describe the image as "sharper"
and as having "better resolution."
But wait. Look at a blowup of
the license plate area: |
Yellow
Car 1 |
Yellow
Car 2 |
 |
 |
| The image on
the right actually resolves finer detail than the
image on left! In a
nutshell, this is the problem with using limiting
resolution as a measure of lens performance. Limiting
resolution is a simple measurement to make, but
it does not correlate well with the visual appeal
of images.
Resolving Questions About MTF,
Part 2 looks at the MTF plots for these pictures
and explores why viewers prefer the image with
poorer resolution.
Resolving
Questions About MTF, Part 2 |
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