CanonFanBoy said:
Act444 said:
haggie said:
These Dual Pixel sensors tend to be (a bit) soft. You can get used to it (e.g. if you went from the 70D to the 80D like I did), but when you see the results of cropped camera's without Dual Pixel AF, the softness of Dual Pixel becomes evident. Even when compared to older models with a "regular" sensor.
Is there something to this? Does the DPAF ability truly come at the cost of the sensor's resolving power?
(I know what you mean though - the newest generation of Canon cameras ARE a bit softer in general, haven't quite been able to figure out why though. Strength of AA filter?)
I don't think they are softer. I had the 70D and mine was very sharp. Maybe AFMA? I think the 7D series allows that.
My point with regards to the 7D Mark III is that Dual Pixel sensors are not needed for the 7D mark III because its primary audience will need it.
Dual Pixel sensors are fantastic for video and to some extend for Live View shooting.
The primary purpose of the "7D" is photography of swift subjects, e.g. sports, aircraft in flight and birds in flight. This is never done in Live View; this is where the optical viewfinder is at it's best.
Replies in this thread show that many of this type of user want improvements in AF and better IQ. The 7D Mark II for sure is a capable camera (I am in doubt to buy it or wait for the 7D Mark III). But I have been in the position lately to compare the EOS 80D, EOS 7D Mark II, Nikon's D7300 and Nikon's D500 with images taken at (almost) the same instant. And although I am a 'Canon fanboy' for several decades, the better images of the D500 in particular are clear.
One of the earlier responses mentioned that in post processing the D500 allows for a lot more. Well, I can confirm this. And from these (and other) side-by-side comparisons it has become clear to me that the Canon bodies that have Dual Pixel sensors are just 'softer'.
Even compared to older cameras.
And yes, even if images are resized to the same resolution.
There is at least one factor that determines that images from Dual Pixel cameras will be (a bit) softer than non-Dual Pixel sensors.
Dual Pixel technology involves 2 separate photon wells. For AF purposes they are used as separate entities (by the camera's firmware - for obvious reasons in a way not made public by Canon). To get the image, these 2 separate photon wells are 'combined' to form one pixel. Again, this is done by the camera's proprietary firmware.
When discussing the image of a Dual Pixel sensor, it is useful to realize that the limit where diffraction becomes visible in an image from a digital camera is determined by the size of the photon well and the aperture in use. The smaller the photon well, the sooner diffraction will be visible in the image. And also, the smaller the aperture, the sooner diffraction will be visible in the image.
And therefore, because a Dual Pixel sensor has smaller photon as a direct result of the Dual Pixel architecture, softer images are unavoidable.
Other contributing factors may be the required computation to 'construct' 1 pixel from the data read from 2 separate photon wells. But that is just guessing because like I just said, what the firmware is a secret.
So from witnessing: softness in Dual Pixel sensors is a thing. And at least one technical reason for it is available.
It is for sure not a matter of "thinking" and also it is not due to unsharp images from a Dual Pixel camera with sharp images from another camera (as a result of not performing AFMA or otherwise).