These values could easily be halved for 'average' or poor viewing conditions. Remember that this is for very high contrast at optimal lighting - not your print of a photo hanging on the wall. The table below (originally from the DigitalWorkflow Yahoo group): gives an idea of the maximum resolution at various distances. Note - If you are not familiar with thinking of things in degrees, remember that the diameter of the full moon is about half a degree MTF and resolution - Detailed information from Norman Koren about resolution and lens performance The resolution of the Eye - Discussion in more detail, concerning how close to sit to the TV (ordinary and HDTV) - original site lost - link goes to copy That means that in bright light you should be able to resolve 60 black/white line pairs over an angular distance of a degree.

'The -maximum- resolving power of the eye is about 60 lines per degree. I earned from Epson salesman to figure 360 dpi as their recommended 'standard' to prepare for the printer or simple multiples of that.Ī most useful and practical source for understanding viewing distance and print resolution is by Keith Cooper writing from 'Northern Light' in the U.K. I'd hypothesise that you wouldn't find any difference in preference between the two methods of sharpening.Įven if there were a difference, you might then consider whether the effect size would be larger than say, altering global contrast, or colour balance or something similar. * Think of a controlled trial - get a random selection of people and ask them to choose between the same photo sharpened through two different methods (or even no sharpening!). Stated another way - given a finite number of hours to spend on photography, I'd rather be doing anything but sharpening And furthermore, that most people won't notice the difference between 'fancy' sharpening and moderate unsharp masking. I'd hazard a guess that the idiosyncracies and limitations of the human visual system dominate over any of the fine technical details under discussion here. To act as a devil's advocate: Does the whole question really matter?Īll of this technical discussion is ignoring something much more important - the role of the human observer.

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