Image quality and image resolution

13 years after the introduction of the first digital airborne mapping camera in the ISPRS conference 2000 in Amsterdam, several digital cameras with more than 100 MPixels per image have been made available. They are now well established in the market and have replaced the analogue mapping cameras. A general improvement in image quality accompanied the digital camera development. The signal-to-noise ratio and the dynamic range are significantly better than with the analogue cameras. In addition, digital cameras can be spectrally and radiometrically calibrated. The use of these cameras required a rethinking in many places. In the recent years, some activities took place that will lead to a better understanding of the cameras and the data produced by these cameras. Several projects, like the projects of the German Society for Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Geoinformation (DGPF) or EuroSDR (European Spatial Data Research), were conducted to test and compare the performance of different cameras. This paper will give an overview of standards and alternative approaches in image quality criteria's, and the derivation and use of these parameters.