Completely agreed. I don't get the appeal of Atkinson dithering at all -- it makes the noise more "clumpy" or "textured" and thereby inherently reduces the amo

Completely agreed. I don't get the appeal of Atkinson dithering at all -- it makes the noise more "clumpy" or "textured" and thereby inherently reduces the amount of detail you can perceive. I don't think that's something subjective. And if you want the "richer contrast" that the article describes Atkinson as providing, then easy -- just increase the contrast of the grayscale image before dithering. Then you actually have control over whatever final contrast you want -- it can be whatever you want! But you won't lose detail the way Atkinson does.