Removing the Blur Filter (AA) from your sensor

I’m not recommending you should be removing the blur filter (AA) from your sensor yourself of course. However, there are professional services out there that can do this for you.  One such company I have used before to accomplish this on my 5D (original, not mark II) is LDP LLC.

MaxMax.com is the site if you want to look deeper into it.  [ I have a link below that goes directly to the D700 page showing the difference it makes to sharpness and in Nikon's case, better white balance ]

There are pros and cons to consider before doing this to your camera. The pros are that the blur filter (AA) will no longer impact the sharpness of your images, the downside is that Moiré patterns may appear when an image has items in frame that have certain repeating patterns of their own.  You’ll have to review their site to see what I mean by this, but there is an example on the page linked HERE. Scroll down 3/4 of the page to “AREA 3″ image to see the Moiré pattern.

You see, in order to eliminate or reduce Moiré patterns, the camera manufacturers install an AA filter over the sensor to blur the high frequency information.  The AA filters let the low frequency information through but blocks the high frequency.  What this means is, although you may own a 10 mega pixel camera, it may only be taking an equivalent of 7 mega pixels of resolution.  Any information approaching the resolution of the sensor must be blocked to prevent Moiré, but the cost of this process is loss of resolution.

—-||| On a side note, this is the reason why I like the Sigma SD14.  The foveon sensor has no such blur filter (AA) and captures red, green and blue on each pixel. |||—-

Maxmax.com offers two options. Either a camera conversion whereby you send them YOUR camera and they remove the blur filter and install a high grade glass replacement over the sensor.  -OR- you can buy new from them and they will convert a brand new camera and make the same conversion before shipping it to you.

I actually opted to NOT sell my D3 and instead shipped it off this week for their High Resolution (HR) conversion process.  I was happy with the increased sharpness I got with my old 5D and I’m sure I’ll be pleased with the D3 conversion.  I was willing then and am willing now to deal with that annoying Moiré pattern in order to gain increased resolution / sharpness. I’m a pixel junkie.

For those of you who don’t know, the D700 uses the same sensor as the D3.  So the images shown on their D700 High Resolution (HR) info page (linked below) would be similar findings with a D3.  I’m looking forward to the better white balance myself.  The first thing I noticed when I started shooting with the D3 was it had a color shift towards yellow/brown that was distinctly apparent to me after having shot with a 5D for a couple of years.  You’ll see.  Check the link below for image comparisons of a stock Nikon D700 vs D700 (HR) converted.

http://www.maxmax.com/nikon_d700hr.htm

I’m NOT. I repeat… I’m NOT recommending you do this to your camera or endorsing MaxMax.com here and now. I’m just letting you know these types of things exist and that I’m willing to roll the dice with my gear.  If I only had one camera and no backup bodies, I wouldn’t take a chance with something like this.