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Enough Pixels, Already!
Just a year ago, a camera with a 6 megapixel sensor was an impressive package. Today it is basic, and consumer level cameras (point-and-shoot) pack twice as many pixels into the same size sensor. Traditionally (if you can establish a tradition in the time digital photography has been around) the 2 features to look at when starting to compare cameras were: how much optical zoom and how many pixels ~ in both instances the right answers was "the more the better". The benefit of higher pixel counts is greater resolving power which means more detailed, sharper pictures and the possibility of making bigger enlargements. But there is a cost to cramming more and more pixels onto a sensor: noise. Noise is that ugly speckling that degrades your photos and breaks up you images, especially the ones taken in low light. Fine films never got to the point where they could outresolve top quality lenses. Not even high contrast speiality films like Tech Pan. One of the reasons for the popularity of Fuji Velvia is its resolving power — the best there is in a colour transparency emulsion and enough to compensate for its oversaturated colours. Things have changed. Several years ago, when Canon's 1Ds carried an 8.8 megapixel sensor, it actually out-resolved Canon's best lenses... not their consumer level glass; their best. A few of today's cameras may claim better lenses than the 1Ds had in 2003 ~ not many, not by much, and they'd have to prove it! But nobody can claim that their lenses can provide as much detail as the sensor is able capture. So where does this leave us? Market driven manufacturers provide more and more pixels, but that no longer necessarily means better photos. In practical terms, any camera with 6 to 8 megapixels will perform as well as any consumer level 10 or 12 Mp unit; anything gained by the extra pixels will be lost by the extra noise and by the processing done by the camera to hide it. Things may change, but for the moment, concentrate on getting the best lens you can with a decent optical zoom range; don't be seduced by the very longest zoom, unless you have a special need for it; remember you want to shoot wide angle as well, and the further the zoom out, the poorer the image quality. |
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The copyright for this content entitled "Enough Pixels, Already!" has been specified by the contributor as:
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This intel was contributed by David Rich
David Rich
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May, 2012
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