Sharpness: What is it and How it is Measured

Summary Metrics Derived from the MTF Curve

Summary Metric Description Comments
MTF50
MTFnn
Spatial frequency where MTF is 50% (nn%) of the low (0) frequency MTF. MTF50 (nn = 50) is widely used because it corresponds to bandwidth (the half-power frequency) in electrical engineering. The most common summary metric; correlates well with perceived sharpness. Increases with increasing software sharpening; may be misleading because it “rewards” excessive sharpening, which results in visible and possibly annoying “halos” at edges.
MTF50P
MTFnnP
Spatial frequency where MTF is 50% (nn%) of the peak MTF. Identical to MTF50 for low to moderate software sharpening, but lower than MTF50 when there is a software sharpening peak (maximum MTF > 1). All in all, a better metric then MTF50.
MTF area
normalized
Area under an MTF curve (below the Nyquist frequency), normalized to its peak value (1 at f = 0 when there is little or no sharpening, but the peak may be » 1 for strong sharpening). A particularly interesting new metric because it closely tracks MTF50 for little or no sharpening, but does not increase for strong oversharpening; i.e., it does not reward excessive sharpening. Still relatively unfamiliar. Described in Slanted-Edge MTF measurement consistency.
MTF10, MTF10P,
MTF20, MTF20P
Spatial frequencies where MTF is 10 or 20% of the zero frequency or peak MTF These numbers are sometimes used because they are comparable to the “vanishing resolution” (Rayleigh limit). Noise can strongly affect results at the 10% levels or lower. MTF20 in Line Widths per Picture Height (LW/PH) is closest to analog TV Lines.