I’ve often told the tale of my best camera upgrades in the quest for sharpness:
A retina (high dpi) screen.
PhotoLab.
For so many years, including many with Lightroom, I just assumed my camera gear (in conjunction with my own skills) was not up to producing truly sharp images.
I’ve now proven to myself that my 6 megapixel camera from 2005 was perfectly capable of sharp images. Lightroom just isn’t really capable of rendering them. Then add noise, and it is further constrained.
I watched a YouTube video a few days ago that sought to answer a question the creator had been asked… “How can I deal with a high ISO image only with Lightroom?” He showed one example in a 12 minute video.
My thoughts on sharpness and noise have really evolved over the years. I care greatly about focus and having what I want to be in focus in focus. Modern AF systems are really impressive in this regard. But I care far less about overall sharpness than I used to. And I don’t mind noise either if it is the right kind of noise—luminance rather than color. Of course, all of this is entirely a matter of preference and depends in part on what you shoot. I would feel differently, for example, if I primarily shot macro.
