Picture Quality Concerns Other Than Noise

When discussing "picture quality" for digital cameras I hear a lot of talk
about "noise" which I take to mean irregularities in the picture (small
areas of color that are not representative of what was actually taken).
What I want to know is: What do you call the fact that almost all digital
pictures (when you view them @ actual size) are made up of "splotches" of
color that, when fit to the screen, make an actual fairly-clear picture?
The only camera that doesn't do that (that I know of) is my 10D. When I
view it's pictures @ actual size I see a CLEAR picture, not a splotchy
picture. What do you call that difference? It doesn't really sound like
"noise" because the *whole picture* is splotchy. Is this making any sense
or am I just rambling?

Nathan

"N.E.1." writes:

What I want to know is: What do you call the fact that almost all digital
pictures (when you view them @ actual size) are made up of "splotches" of
color that, when fit to the screen, make an actual fairly-clear picture?
The only camera that doesn't do that (that I know of) is my 10D. When I
view it's pictures @ actual size I see a CLEAR picture, not a splotchy
picture.

What's "actual size" on a digital image, Nathan? (And when you mention 'fit
to the screen,' may I assume you are not printing the images? You are
looking at them on your monitor?)

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Noise tends to take on a different character with different cameras probably
due to differing frequency distibutions combined possibly with inefficient
in-camera noise reduction attempts. Some cameras give an evenly distributed
speckled appearance to noise which is easier to fix with post-edit software,
and some cameras 'clump' the noise into patchy discoloured areas as well as
having the usual speckled noise and these will be more difficult to
post-edit. Things always look worse at full size. Expensive cameras like
the 10D use better technology and just generate far less noise in the first
place; that's what your paying for.




"N.E.1." wrote in message
...
When discussing "picture quality" for digital cameras I hear a lot of talk
about "noise" which I take to mean irregularities in the picture (small
areas of color that are not representative of what was actually taken).
What I want to know is: What do you call the fact that almost all digital
pictures (when you view them @ actual size) are made up of "splotches" of
color that, when fit to the screen, make an actual fairly-clear picture?
The only camera that doesn't do that (that I know of) is my 10D. When I
view it's pictures @ actual size I see a CLEAR picture, not a splotchy
picture. What do you call that difference? It doesn't really sound like
"noise" because the *whole picture* is splotchy. Is this making any sense
or am I just rambling?

Nathan

I've seen a Canon G5 (5MP), Pentax Optio S (3.2MP), a Casio EX-S3 (3.2MP),
an Olympus C-740UZ (3.2MP), a Fuji FinePIX 3200 (2.1MP), and an Olympus
D-460 (1.3MP). I didn't really recognize the splotchiness until I saw see a
picture without it. Thanks.

Nathan

What does splotches mean ?

In article ,
says...
When discussing "picture quality" for digital cameras I hear a lot of talk
about "noise" which I take to mean irregularities in the picture (small
areas of color that are not representative of what was actually taken).
What I want to know is: What do you call the fact that almost all digital
pictures (when you view them @ actual size) are made up of "splotches" of
color that, when fit to the screen, make an actual fairly-clear picture?
The only camera that doesn't do that (that I know of) is my 10D. When I
view it's pictures @ actual size I see a CLEAR picture, not a splotchy
picture. What do you call that difference? It doesn't really sound like
"noise" because the *whole picture* is splotchy. Is this making any sense
or am I just rambling?

Nathan




--

Alfred Molon
------------------------------
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Olympus4040_5050/
Olympus 4040 resource - http://www.molon.de/4040.html
Olympus 5050 resource - http://www.molon.de/5050.html

I've seen a Canon G5 (5MP), Pentax Optio S (3.2MP), a Casio EX-S3 (3.2MP),
an Olympus C-740UZ (3.2MP), a Fuji FinePIX 3200 (2.1MP), and an Olympus
D-460 (1.3MP). I didn't really recognize the splotchiness until I saw see
a
picture without it. Thanks.

I know exactly what you're talking about. Maybe you could provide some
samples for the other folks, because I'd really like to know the answer.

Go to the alt.binaries.photos.original newsgroup and look for the post
entitled: THE Difference Between Good Quality and Poor Quality Pictures!
There are some replies but no one seems to be able to answer the question.

Nathan

N.E.1. wrote:
When discussing "picture quality" for digital cameras I hear a lot of talk
about "noise" which I take to mean irregularities in the picture (small
areas of color that are not representative of what was actually taken).
What I want to know is: What do you call the fact that almost all digital
pictures (when you view them @ actual size) are made up of "splotches" of
color that, when fit to the screen, make an actual fairly-clear picture?
The only camera that doesn't do that (that I know of) is my 10D. When I
view it's pictures @ actual size I see a CLEAR picture, not a splotchy
picture. What do you call that difference?

Without actually seeing an example I can only guess that you're seeing
JPEG compression artifacts. The 10D does minimal compression at the
Large/Fine setting and you'd be hard pressed to spot the artifacts.
But when photos get posted, size counts, and people tend to crank up
the compression, which results in what could be called splotchyness.

--
Ray Fischer