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06/16/2003 01:41:54 AM · #1 |
Is there some secret I don't know to fixing up bad digital zoom pictures? They all come out sooo bad. I can do almost everything with photoshop, provided that I have a decent image to start with, but these digital zoom pictures are seeming hopeless at this point. Here are the links to two digitally zoomed photos of seals I took today that I would desperately like to salvage. Any tricks would be really helpful. I would also ask if it's just better to take the picture without the zoom and then just crop in photoshop. Actually, I'll answer my own question, I'm sure it is, but it's just so pleasing to see the correct image in that little screen when I'm in the field...*sigh*
Seals 1
Seals 2 |
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06/16/2003 01:49:36 AM · #2 |
Originally posted by JasonPR:
Is there some secret I don't know to fixing up bad digital zoom pictures? |
don't take them :)
your 'puter will do much better job.
Pedro |
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06/16/2003 02:11:59 AM · #3 |
Originally posted by pedromarlinez:
don't take them :)
your 'puter will do much better job.
Pedro |
Have you tested this? It's probable true on many cameras but not necessarily on all. I've tested this on my F707 by first taking a photo with the digital zoom at it's maximum zoom and then taking the same photo without digital zoom and then cropping it in Photoshop and I honestly saw little, if any, difference when they were scaled to the same sizes. I don't often have the digital zoom on but there still have been times when I felt it was useful. An example is when I was at a Mariners baseball game sitting in the stands. I was taking photos of the players and I knew I would be cropping the images anyway because of was so far away so I used the digital zoom. By doing this I was able to see the players easier which helped in my composition and timing. As a result I felt that I was getting better photographs even if they were low resolution. A couple of things to keep in mind is that with digital zoom set to on the camera does the cropping before jpg compression is applied and another factor is that, on many cameras, you are able to digitally zoom just a small amount if you wish which wont degrade the quality too much. Often if I find I need to crop my image either via the camera's digital zoom or by Photoshop I wont crop quite as tightly as I would if I had the luxury of optically zooming and cropping. This is a compromise that I can live with.
T
Message edited by author 2003-06-16 02:13:19.
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06/16/2003 06:57:23 AM · #4 |
When I have used digital zoom, it is sometimes possible to cover up pixellation by applying a photoshop artistic filter to the whole image. Of course, the photo then loses its ultra-realistic feel...
I think the best filter I would use to cover it up would be the "add noise" or "film grain" filter. Both can do a decent job of making the image look like it was taken with with a very fast color film, though I find "add noise" does it best...
I tried it on your seal photo, It does cover up the pixelated look but of course, changes the feel of the entire image. I think its the best one can do with this situation...
Message edited by author 2003-06-16 06:57:43. |
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06/16/2003 07:46:54 AM · #5 |
I tried some things on Seals1. I did a Gaussian Blur with radius 0.5 pixels and then unsharp mask at amount=140%, radius = 0.7 pixel, and threshold=4. The blur reduced the graininess and the sharping brought back some detail. The downside is the loss of detail as seen in the wiskers of the back seal.
All in all, it's a good shot as is. It won't be on the cover of National Geographic, but be happy with the composition and interest it shows.
Dennis
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06/16/2003 10:18:45 AM · #6 |
Tim
You are so right about the Sony's - their special smart digital zoom is better than using your computer, you just end up with a slightly smaller file size than a non digital zoom pic. Unfortunately Jason does not have a Sony, and I have no advice for him on how to improve his current shots. |
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06/16/2003 10:30:57 AM · #7 |
From what I understand (I'm no expert though) this could be true IF you use compression in your camera. If you shoot raw data (which, if you're worried about resolution, you should be) any software that uses Genuine Fractals should do a better job. GF actually interpolates (assumes) data and fills it in where it thinks it should be, as opposed to just enlarging what's already there. (*Maybe Sony does this in Camera?)
The other thing to consider, is that the greater the zoom, the more likely you are to have camera shake and/or focus issues. Solved mostly by a tripod, of course. :)
Anyway - great topic. I'd love to hear more input from someone who knows more about this than me, in hopes of clarifying.
Pedro
Originally posted by jaam:
Tim
You are so right about the Sony's - their special smart digital zoom is better than using your computer, you just end up with a slightly smaller file size than a non digital zoom pic. Unfortunately Jason does not have a Sony, and I have no advice for him on how to improve his current shots. |
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06/16/2003 10:34:35 AM · #8 |
Originally posted by jaam:
Tim
You are so right about the Sony's - their special smart digital zoom is better than using your computer, you just end up with a slightly smaller file size than a non digital zoom pic. Unfortunately Jason does not have a Sony, and I have no advice for him on how to improve his current shots. |
I don't think Tim is claiming that Sony have some secret zoom algorithm that is better than anything else in the rest of the world.
The only real advantage of using a digital zoom is like Tim mentioned, that you can improve your view for better timing of compositions of live action - particularly if you can't see it well enough through the viewfinder.
You'll get essentially the same result doing the crop in photoshop, but obviously lose the real-time aspect that might let you get a better composition of moving elements. The trade-off is that you can probably make a better cropping/framing decision later when you have the full scene and more time to crop to just what you needed in Photoshop.
The difference in compression artefacts is so marginal that it is really a non-issue if you are saving at any of the higher JPEG quality settings.
I've used digital zoom in the past for the reasons Tim mentioned - to see some detail of the comoposition that I was too far to really see with the optical zoom, but the results are never very satisfying, due to the reduced resolution of the final result.
If Sony had a mystically better interpolation algorithm than any other available, don't you think they'd make a lot of noise about it ? |
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