Big Resolution News...

[Jannard]

Well... even we were lulled to sleep with conventional thinking. It was the industry's perception (before RED) that the most measured resolution you could get from a Bayer Patter sensor was 75%. We showed that with Graeme's magic, you could get 80%. We believed for the past 2 years that was the theoretical limit.

We were wrong. What new techniques in the new sensor, new OLPF, new debayering technology, better compression and a wicked sharp RED Pro Prime... that "limit" has been blow by.

Here is a test of the new M-X sensor shot 4K 16:9 at REDCODE 42 with a 100mm RPP. It shows that 4K now yields 3.5K measured resolution (as compared to 3.2K in old tests). We also will show (as soon as I post the next chart) that 4.5K from the same sensor and lens yields a true 4.1K measured resolution.

I guess the "RED doesn't really deliver 4K" is old news.

Jim

4.5K showing measured resolution of 4.1K. (85mm RPP)

 

[Michael T O'Connor]

Wow. Really cool. I wonder what the theoretical limit really is... It can't be much higher.

 

[Rob Ruffo]

I wonder if it would even be possible to manufacture 35mm glass that resolved much more than that using current glass cutting/polishing methods. Anyone know the answer to this?

 

[jbeale]

It is certainly possible to produce (for example) a diffraction-limited f/2.0 lens that covers S35 (at least for one color, and for resolution measured in the center... probably could do it broadband and full-frame, but I'm not so sure about that spec). What you might not like is the price. ...and up til now, not many cameras could have taken advantage of such a lens anyway.

 

[Noah Kadner]

Wait- the pundits were wrong about RED- when has that ever happened? Congrats to Jim, Graeme and the rest of the RED folks.

Noah

 

[Peter Plevritis]

You got to leave some big announcements for Red Day.

 

[Kwan Khan]

Super Cool...

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

I haven't looked at much of the new M-X footage but in the M-X reel there seemed to be more checker boarding in the individual channels when I looked at the uncompressed TIFFs.

Does this increased measurable resolution also introduce more potential artifacting?

 

[Andy Jarosz]

This is huge guys! Good job!

 

[Michael Stanmore]

LOL. It's good news... and not to vomit on your favourite rug or anything... but it still looks like things get a little shaky around the 3500 mark on the 4.5k graph...

Is that wrong? I'm not trained to read these charts in any way so I'm seeing with layman's eyes a smooth gradient from left to right, all looks fine until about 3100 where you get spikes both up and down which are at that point smashing through the gradient by about 100%.... and then by about 3700 things start to get properly weird...

Obviously if you reply and say that that's all normal, and that's how the values are expected to be graphed when you're getting 4K resolution... and that the seemingly wrong values between 3100 and 4000 are actually fine... then I will happily yield to your expertise...

But I was just wondering is all.

 

[Chris Parker]

graeme is my hero. okay, that's a little dramatic, but honestly......good f'n work boyz.....

 

[Greg M]

The increase in resolution is visually noticeable in images shot with the M-X Sensor...I am blown away by this upgrade. At $5700 it is really a no brainer. The upgrade will extend the life of your Red One by a few more years...considering I've had my camera for nearly 2 1/2 years now, this is a significant life span for a digital camera.

 

[JD Holloway]

Is that with the new OLPF?

 

[Greg M]

Is that with the new OLPF?

Yes it has a new OLPF. Im not sure if thats the reason, but it looks a lot sharper.

 

[JonathanF]

I wonder if it would even be possible to manufacture 35mm glass that resolved much more than that using current glass cutting/polishing methods. Anyone know the answer to this?

Yes it's possible and yes it's being done. Zeiss MP's are a good example of just that.

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

The increase in resolution is visually noticeable in images shot with the M-X Sensor...I am blown away by this upgrade. At $5700 it is really a no brainer. The upgrade will extend the life of your Red One by a few more years...considering I've had my camera for nearly 2 1/2 years now, this is a significant life span for a digital camera.

Exactly.

I have been avoiding posting about how insanely good the MX is - as it is hard to talk about and not come off sounding like an crazed fan. The latitude and overall image quality - color & resolution - are hands down awesome.

 

[Antonio Forjaz]

Can't wait to upgrade....sure that my number is still a long LONG way away though....

 

[Andrew Thomas]

Impressive work.

 

[Tobias Straka]

That's big news - really impressive... Thanks for keeping pushing.

 

[Pawel Achtel]

I wonder if it would even be possible to manufacture 35mm glass that resolved much more than that using current glass cutting/polishing methods. Anyone know the answer to this?

All MPs would resolve such detail edge to edge from WFO to diffraction limit, but just. Most lenses won't.

Obviously, from the graph, an RPP resolved beyond the sensor limit at least at some f-stop.

There is no hard line here. The resulting MTF is a combination (multiplication) of the MTF of the lens and the sensor. Of course, the higher the MTF of the glass at sensor resolution limit the higher the detail in the resulting picture.

It is a great news and a bad news. Now there is even bigger need for sharp (and expensive) glass. In particular, it will be difficult to reach the sensor resolution WFO.