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Understanding MTF Charts
Original article posted on January 13, 2009 by Michael Reichmann

Do I Really Need to Know This Stuff?
Actually, yes, you do. Pay attention. It’s important 🙂
You especially do if you’re one of those photographers who enjoy thinking about, reading about and talking about lens sharpness. The reason is that the word sharpness is vague and can mean different things at different times to different people. MTF (Modulation Transfer Function), on the other hand, is the terminology that lens designers use, and which you need to come to terms with if you really want to understand how to describe the complex interaction between resolution and contrast.
For the optical designer contrast and resolution are in conflict. Increase one and you reduce the other. Various lens makers have differing philosophies in the regard. Historically, for example, Zeiss was reputed to design their lenses for maximum resolution, while Leica apparently tended to favor maximum contrast. It is ...

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Michael Reichmann
Michael Reichmann
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Michael Reichmann is the founder of the Luminous Landscape. Michael passed away in May 2016. Since its inception in 1999 LuLa has become the world's largest site devoted to the art, craft, and technology of photography. Each month more than one million people from every country on the globe visit LuLa.
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