Photo Review tips section

Aliasing: should you be concerned about jaggies?

The term ‘aliasing’ is a general term applied to signal processing. It refers to an effect that causes different signals to become indistinguishable (or aliases of one another) when sampled. In imaging, it’s often observed as ‘jaggies’, which appear as steps along what should be a continuous line or edge. These are caused by pixel structure. Aliasing can also produce moire, when fine lines appear to ripple due to the interference.

Lenses and Focusing Basics

The lens in a camera is like an eye that lets light into the camera body and focuses it on the sensor, where the image is recorded. The larger the optical components (known as ‘elements’) in the lens, the more light gets in. The quality of the elements influences the camera’s picture quality.