Subjective Sharpness of Additive Color Pictures

This is a report on the first numerical results to come from a laboratory experiment on the subjective sharpness of additive 3-color pictures. The sharpness factor is isolated by using out-of-focus projection (of slides) instead of actual television transmission. An observer's acuity for defocus is greatest for the green component and least for the blue component, in an additive 3-color picture. When the same picture is reproduced in monochrome (white, red, green, or blue) at the same brightness, his acuity for defocus is equal to that found for the green component.