Hufuage163 suggests a "Simple Approximation to Diffraction
Limited MIF." With the quoted accuracy of +0.003, this should
allow shortcuts in many analyses.
Hufnage19^ also notes that the phase angle of OTF contains
valuable information and is necessary for a proper evaluation
of image quality. The absolute value of OTF must also be taken
into account. His paper presents a mathematical method to account
for phase in image-quality evaluation and he concludes that "For
the broad class of linear measures of image quality ... only the
real part of the optical transfer function ... contributes directly
to quality. However, the entire complex OTF, including the phase
transfer function must be known and used to determine the suitable
coordinate system." A later study®’/ established a 70% confidence (
limit for MIF measurements, based on the use of phase. Tests
showed that the basic assumption that "over the range of interest
when the modulus does not have a very small value, the true transfer
function is real with no imaginary component," was valid for typical
edge gradient analysis data.
A study by Scott?? shows that observers can just distinguish
a 5% difference in the size of spread functions of grainless photographs
of identical scenes and 10% for different photos. Further, the
study showed that subjective judgment could be made quickly without
detriment of performance. It was demonstrated that subjective
image quality judgments made by professional photo interpreters
agree well with photo interpreter performance.
An experiment to investigate the use of MIF to diagnose
camera faults was reported by Jones 66, He concludes: "The
procedure produced diagnostic determinations which were in good
agreement with the known values. The experiment demonstrated Ô
that limited photo-optical system performance can be performed
using MIF measurements... Diagnosis of MTF's must be used in
conjunction with other sources of information such as flight
instrumentation, atmospheric conditions, system design expectations,
and laboratory measurements."
A fifteen year old tutorial paper by Scott68 and his staff
on MTFs discusses theory, optical design, random wave effects,
film MIF, image motion MIFs and MIF instrumentation, and gives
an excellent summary and an example of MTF of a tracking telescope.
5.9.5 Fairchild Camera & Instrment Corp.
At Fairchild Camera, MIF and OTF have found their primary
applications in optical design and diagnostics. As an optical
design tool evaluation, based on contrast and phase, calculations