10 - 12 mpx .. and why it is a necessity.

[Svein Eriksen]

But you have to ask before you buy the camera, and what you buy will limit all the pictures taken until you get a new one, and for all future use of those pictures too.

How do you know your final output requirements in advance?

I ask my editors.

--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

 

[wrider]

And so as we near the 1/3 mark in this thread we have managed to make umpteen assumptions about everyone out there with a camera. We do need this, we don't need that. P&S vs. DSLR. Megapixels this, megapixels that. Cropping in the camera is the only real way. (As if millions of people out there actually shoot thinking they are going to fix everything in PP.) The usual myths, generalizations and bogus arguments and assumptions..
So do we feel better now? Is there more enlightenment to come?
I wait with baited breath....not.
Sincerely,
--
Wendell
http://www.wendellworld.com

'Not everything that counts can be counted, not everything that can be counted counts.'
Albert Einstein

 

[Simon Courcha]

This is poorly thought out nonsense.

It might be difficult for the average photography enthusiast to come to terms with, but the main photography market is represented by the family snapper who outputs mostly at 6 by 4 with the very occasional A4 size enlargement. They do little or no post processing. At all output sizes their quality expectations are modest. With these sort of demands in mind, 4MPs does the job.

Furthermore, MPs represent output size, and more MPs does not necessarily correlate with image quality. Give me 6MPs from an APS-C sensor over a 10MP 1/1.8" any day.

Simon C
http://www.eyematter.com

 

[ausGeoff]

.....shooting under 8 is like using the instamatic from film days

This is probably the most ill-considered statement I've ever read on this forum!
Or, putting it simply: What a load of bovine excrement.

 

[ledittmar]

If you need 10mg for cropping ,try cropping with the camera,it works. I always take more than one shot with multiple zoom settings when possible. An example , when shooting a full length image of a bride and groom, I also shoot a waist up shot of them. Don't need all those pixels.

 

[MikRin]

No disrespect.. your comment made me laugh. A heated discussion is always amusing - too bad it couldn´t be held in a smoky tavern with lots of beer

However, I stand by my statements :9
--
Mike Rinnan
http://mike.rinnan.com

 

[MikRin]

I find it interesting that the majority disagree with my thoughts. This might be because only those in opposition will post or perhaps this is the general consensus.

In that case we have been very bad at getting our needs through to the r&d and production planners.
--
Mike Rinnan
http://mike.rinnan.com

 

[AWT]

I wish I was intelligent enough to know myself..

 

[44Magpie]

My 5mp Olympus 5050 has comparable quality to many of the higher megapixel cameras. The mp count is only one factor in the quality of digital photos. I'd rather have a nice sharp lens than an extra mp or two.

 

[jonrobertp]

6 megs is not sharp, unless you look only at screens. It's a long way from a Mcburger to a fine steak.
--
Life is about choices...See Cuba: http://www.jonrp.smugmug.com

 

[Dan Farmer]

I’ve heard a quote attributed to Robert Capa, “The main difference between an amateur and professional photographer is the professional has a larger garbage can.”

I main advantage of digital is the economy of shooting unlimited images. If you have a high GB card, or a place to offload images as you shoot, you can try a large number of settings to get the image you want.

If you go on a shoot with 10 rolls of 36 exposure chrome, then you have 360 exposures (maybe 370 if you are careful on loading). So every misstep or screwed up setting has a real cost in processing and lost shots.

The main advantage to experience is to cut down on the number of bonehead mistakes and increase the number of good images for you to choose from.

The only problem with making mistakes is not learning from them.

One plus with a 10-14 MP camera is it will allow you a little more cropping room. It is the same advantage that a 120 camera gives you over a 35.

The 10-14 MP cameras also tend to have the latest and greatest metering and other bells and whistles that help you make adjustment at the time you are shooting. With RAW option you can make those adjustment when you at the computer. When you are in a hurry or need a take a shot on the fly RAW can save your butt.

Photography is about more the resolution. A beautiful composition can be hurt by a lack of resolution, but the inverse it not true.

 

[Clayton Jones]

Hello Bob,

I will miss the 'L' glass in my Pro1...

Yes, an incredibly sharp lens. I doubt I'll ever sell mine. It's just such a remarkable camera.

My fantasy cam is an interhangeable lens Pro-2 with a larger sensor (the XT/D30 sensor with the width cut down to 3:4 ratio), EVF and tilt/twist LCD with preview histogram.

Great Pro1
Casio Z750

I too have a Z750 for my pocket cam. Another remarkably fine camera. Great minds think alike .

Regards,
Clayton

Info on black and white digital printing at
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm

 

[14nLover]

Photography is about more the resolution. A beautiful composition
can be hurt by a lack of resolution, but the inverse it not true.

And that's the important thing. The beautiful composition ruined because I can't make a good print of it due to lack of resolution. My clients don't want a 4x6 print, they want an 11x14, 16x20 or 20x30 and 6mp just doesn't cut it. I amazed a photographer at a recent exhibit when I asked her if she shot her pics that were on display with a D70. They were 11x14 and the lack of resolution showed glaringly compared to other photos she had shot with a D2x and printed the same size. She was carrying the D2x at the opening to photograph friends who came to see it, so I assumed she'd used a D70 for the lower res images (they looked just like pics from my D70 printed that size). She confessed that she had and that she'd hoped no one would notice the lack of fine detail. She'd bought the D2x because she had used a Hasselblad with film prior to going digital with the D70 and she was not happy either with 6mp resolution at exhibition sizes. That is my story too; I used a Mamiya 645, then got a D70. Didn't like the lack of detail in my large prints so I got a Kodak 14n. It's very good, although I still see the lack of resolution compared to medium format film in some images.
--
Chris Crawford
Santa Fe, NM
Fine Art Photography of Indiana

http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com/fine_art/index.htm

Check out my new project:
http://www.plumpatrin.com

 

[josh007]

6 megs is not sharp, unless you look only at screens. It's a long
way from a Mcburger to a fine steak.

Sharpness is an atribute of lenses not MP, but I do agree that always more MP is better. Remember all those pros shooting with Nikon 4MP D2h? Guess with what they're shooting now.

Josh

 

[Jacques Cornell]

Give me 6MPs from an
APS-C sensor over a 10MP 1/1.8" any day.

Absolutely. An old Canon 6MP D60 will outclass any 9MP P&S. And, for A4 prints, even the ancient 3MP Canon D30 will trash the niftiest pocket cam money can buy.

Very few people make prints larger than 12x18. Few labs make digital c-prints larger than this, and large-format inkjet printers are expensive and rare beasts owned by only a small minority of even professional photographers. For an A4 print, a 3-4MP DSLR or 5-6MP P&S is plenty. For an A3 print, a 6-8MP DSLR is plenty, and an 8MP P&S image will look grainy/noisy but sharp enough for non-pro use. For the vast majority of uses, 10MP is overkill. Only pros, or amateurs who want to make 16x24 prints, need 10+MP. In my experience as an exhibiting professional fine-art and commercial photographer, 6MP DSLR landscapes print well enough to exhibit and sell at 12x18. It's all in the processing.

--

'Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.' Lord Acton, British
historian.

 

[Mrvile]

Now THIS has to be one of the most ignorant comments I've read thus far.

6 megs is not sharp, unless you look only at screens. It's a long
way from a Mcburger to a fine steak.
--
Life is about choices...See Cuba: http://www.jonrp.smugmug.com

 

[jonrobertp]

Glad to make your day ! I was wondering what it would take to get a reaction, esp. from Sigma lens fans !! Have a nice day, I did !
--
Life is about choices...See Cuba: http://www.jonrp.smugmug.com

 

[bosjohn]

--I ran accross this interesting discussion at one of the digital leica sites. http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25502
bosjohn aka John Shick [email protected]

 

[Steven Noyes]

I ROTHFALMAO whenever I read this type of post. Even 25 years ago in the dark room, cropping was a conscious aspect of printing. A 35mm frame would not fit those 4X5 and 8X10 very well Heck, I even had assignments specifically design to look for different crops and images with images. This was done to teach us that the photography did not stop when you pushed the shutter. It continued all the way to the end presentation.

Does this mean that it is not important to use the most of what you have. Fill the frame when you can but also be aware that you may need to crop out pieces of it. Or level it (loosing pixels).

I don't think I have ever read anyone claim that they can take a bad picture and turn into a master piece by doing a bit of cropping. I have read lots of posts that have take a good picture and made it better by cropping.

Basically, grow up and remember that none of this is new. From cropping to PP. People were copping and tweaking film to change response and color and contrast and saturation and composition LONG before photoshop came along.

Steven

--
---
Summer 2006:
http://www.pbase.com/snoyes/gallery/images_summer_2006

 

[Steven Noyes]

For many many landscapes. I really like to have 32+MP when print > = 16"X24" I will go as low as 18MP but even then, the image will start to lose detail that it should have for the level of "lack of grain".

I am waiting for 22+MP in a single capture

Steven

--
---
Summer 2006:
http://www.pbase.com/snoyes/gallery/images_summer_2006