Any downsides related to pixel binning/reduced mode?

[lct]

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On 7/10/2025 at 5:38 PM, Ne314satel said:

if you shoot with old lenses, then reducing the resolution will give a slightly different rendering. I use reduction for optics from the 40s.

It is subjective of course but i've been surprised at how well the M11 behaves at 60mp with LTM lenses from the 40s. Here with an Elmar 35/3.5 from 1949. I was not tempted to swith to 36mp or 18mp then but i never tried TBH.

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[jaapv]

Hardly surprising. Lens and sensor is an imaging system that's not a weakest link situation; it is additive. Put a better lens on the same sensor --> better image. Put a better sensor behind the same lens --> better image.  Nobody has ever complained about a lens "outperforming" a sensor. Why this myth about a sensor "outperforming" a lens ? 

[lct]

16 hours ago, jaapv said:

Hardly surprising. Lens and sensor is an imaging system that's not a weakest link situation [...]

I can understand this but i suppose with more resolution the flaws of a lens are more visible so that one may wish to reduce resolution with less than perfect lenses, especially legacy ones. Just a guess as i'm fortunate enough to own pristine lenses. I have no experience with lenses earlier than 1948 though.

 

[jaapv]

Not really You may reduce some flaws but you will also hide the improvements. 

[sdk]

On 7/15/2025 at 7:49 AM, lct said:

I can understand this but i suppose with more resolution the flaws of a lens are more visible so that one may wish to reduce resolution with less than perfect lenses, especially legacy ones. Just a guess as i'm fortunate enough to own pristine lenses. I have no experience with lenses earlier than 1948 though.

 

A higher res sensor (or file) more accurately records the output of a lens. If a lens has got coma in the corners the coma will be recorded more faithfully than a lower res sensor (or setting) would do. But if it's also a lens that has high MTF in the center then the higher MP will capture more detail in the middle of the image too. So the 60MP DNG setting of an M11 will record the "sharp" parts of the image better, and record the "character" corners more faithfully than its 36MP or 18MP settings, or than an M10R or an M9.

[lct]

May i ask if you tried different resolutions on legacy lenses? Just curious as i did not personally but showing more details in the center and more flaws on edges or corners would be a good reason to avoid high resolution when using less than perfect lenses IMHO.