Breakdown of Несмотря на то, что фокус отличный, обработка плохая.
плохой
bad
несмотря на то, что
despite the fact that
отличный
excellent
обработка
processing
Questions & Answers about Несмотря на то, что фокус отличный, обработка плохая.
Why do we need the то, что part instead of just saying Несмотря на что?
Prepositions in Russian (like на) must attach to a noun or pronoun, not directly to a clause. You use the pronoun то (that) to give the preposition something to attach to, and then use the что (that) clause to explain what the то refers to.
Does несмотря literally mean 'not looking'?
Yes! It comes from the verb смотреть (to look). Originally it was a literal action meaning 'without looking at', but it evolved into a preposition meaning 'despite'. When used as 'despite', it is written as one word (несмотря), unlike the literal physical action which is written as two (не смотря).
In what context are фокус and обработка used here?
This sentence is talking about digital photography, video, or software. Фокус refers to the camera's focus, and обработка (built from the root for 'work') refers to the post-processing, editing, or rendering of the image.
How could we rewrite this sentence to use the compound preposition по сравнению с (compared to)?