Sony DSLR compatibility issue?

[wlynum]

I recently purchased a Sony Alpha and suddenly lenses that were razor sharp on

my Maxxum 7 have a soft focus.Is this a compatibility issue?A post camera

digital darkroom issue? Is this one of the differences in the characteristics

of film and digital?

[matt_ruffino]

Were you using the sony software to look at the photos? I found that the sony software really makes photos look alot less sharp.

[orensztajn]

Was a RAW fil or a jpeg?

Anyway a dig sensor will not be as sharp as a film.

You always need to do some resharping in PS before printing.

[wlynum]

I shoot most stuff in raw + jpeg,because I don't have much of a digital darkroom yet but I still would like the RAW file to work with in the future.I've viewed the pictures in both formats with the same results.I am using Sony's file converter,I'm afraid its the only one I have at the time.

[drjedsmith]

Well, it could be a couple of things, but first off, only compare the RAW shots. Secondly, what exactly are you comparing to - scans of your film from your Maxxum 7 or prints? Do realize that if you are zooming into 100%, then you are seeing a huge enlargment...usually three times what your file size is.<BR>

For example, let's say your image is 12x18 at 300dpi. When you look at the 100% view in Photoshop, you are seeing 3x that big on your monitor - like a 36x54 print - because your monitor is probably running at 96dpi.<BR>

Also, you will have to apply some sharpening to the Alpha's files to get them to look anywhere close to slides you took with the film 7. Always unsharp mask, even just a little before printing. It will give it the "razor" edge that you want.<BR>

Hope that helps some,<BR>

Jed

[wlynum]

Thanks,Jedidiah,I think that explains it.

[peterblaise]

Test on-screen at 25 percent zoom (4:1 image-pixels:screen-pixels) and compare that to a print out, holding each away from you so they appear to be the same size, and the same black/gray/white points, then you're as close to apples-apples as you're gonna get. It's a lot of work, but comparing a small print to a large screen is apples-oranges. We need to calibrate our assessment systems before we can interpret what we are looking at.