More Pixels?....... Do We Really Need Them?

[lol geoff]

This is interesting. http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm As a small digital camera owner thinking of upgrading to a digital EOS, so that I can use my now obsolete EOS lenses, after reading this will I be wasting my money?

[Boddie]

Depends what you are using at the mo. If you have point and shoot and you're thinking of a DSLR you will see a big difference

[Fourwings]

If you are thinking of getting an EOS digital SLR then my advice would be to get it.
You will not be disapointed, I have an EOS 20D and its the best camera that I have ever used/owned, the images they can produce are stunning, packed with fine detail and excellent colour replication.

[Beryl]

I had a konica minolta Z6 6mg pixels.I thought this was fantastic. Then I bought a DSLR 6 mg pixels the difference was unbelievable

[glsammy]

Just don't get hung up about the number of pixels..all modern DSLR'S wll produce quality images. The most important part is the lens you use. For close up wildlife, the Sigma 150mm Macro is about as good as it gets.

[eeyore]

Ive just gone from a 6mp 300D to the 8mp 20D and the difference is neglible, however the other features of the camera are better - e.g burst speed and depth, handling, autofocus etc which is why I upgraded, I would agree that there is far more to this game than pixel numbers.

[paulthomas]

I think the megapixel race is about over now. Most DSLRs are settling at around the 8MP range at which they deliver more detail that 35mm film together with much, much better high ISO performance (and at the press of a button too ). There's never been a better time to get a DSLR. Go on, you know you want to

[nightshade]

Forget about the pixels,look at the convenience no waiting for processing!
"Did I get that shot,is it sharp" just look delete if necessary(use caution )
I have a 3 megapixel camers the results are very good, just bought a D70s the results are even better (squared!) Canon have more megapixels than you can shake a stick at,you could probably make duvet(king sized)prints from it!

[RogerTheCat]

When I print my pictures to A4 size I see little difference there i slittle difference in image quality between my 3MP and 6Mp cameras. Where I see the difference is in photoshop, here the larger image size makes a difference expecially when i comes to cropping pictures.

When printing I think most printers only print at max 300 DPI and so once your image gives 300 DPI regardless of what MP camera you have you see no benefit when printing. There was an article in Practical Photography about this a few months ago

[Bushcraft]

My last camera had 4.5MP and now my D200 has 10.2MP. The difference is not that noticable unless the light conditions are bad and then this can be seen if you bump the ISO up. A DSLR does give a much nicer picture but it is to do with more than just pixels. See some of my images http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/ga...imageuser=1873 some were taken with a D200 and others with a Nikon 4500.

[MalcolmX]

i would like to offer a an opinion here. dpi for printing has no bearing n the pixcell count of your camera . if you attempt to print at a size inconpatable with the number of pixcells on your ccd and you set it to 300 dpi then you will either get a very small picture or the programme will interpolate on the best fit principle and you will get an odd picture .
for most viewing of pictures on photo quality gloss paper the print resolution should be set at 1440 or 2700 and the size without interpolation at 300 dpi to give an a4 print is a camera with a ccd of at least 8.6 meg.ccd on compact are smaller than ccd on dslr and have less light so the detail on a dsl will be better

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by MALCOLMX

i would like to offer a an opinion here. dpi for printing has no bearing n the pixcell count of your camera . if you attempt to print at a size inconpatable with the number of pixcells on your ccd and you set it to 300 dpi then you will either get a very small picture or the programme will interpolate on the best fit principle and you will get an odd picture .
for most viewing of pictures on photo quality gloss paper the print resolution should be set at 1440 or 2700 and the size without interpolation at 300 dpi to give an a4 print is a camera with a ccd of at least 8.6 meg.ccd on compact are smaller than ccd on dslr and have less light so the detail on a dsl will be better

you say that pixel count has no bearing on DPI then go on to demonstrate that it does - or a least it does if you want a reasonable sized picture.

what point were you making

[Roy C]

More pixels on your sensor equals greater crop ability.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Roy C

More pixels on your sensor equals greater crop ability.

true , though the sensor pitch on the 5D is such that if you crop its fullframe shot to the same angle of view as that of the 8MP 20D you only wind up with 5MP - so if your going to crop in a lot to mimic high mag you'd be better off with a cropped sensor in the first place.

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by glsammy

The most important part is the lens you use

Yes, it's that simple and entirely down to the quality of lens used. Mind you, the user can make all the difference

John

[eeyore]

When I was at marwell with andy rouse last year, we tried a very simple "experiment". basically we both photographed the fossa - a very difficult fast movingsubject - with our own cameras and with each others and compared the result.

With his 1DS mk2 the shots were virtually identical - he actually said that some of mine were better than some of his, however with my (at the time) 300D his shots were still decent where as I struggled to get anything sharp.

which goes to show that the camera does play a part too, or looking at it from the other side lack of experience is much more noticeable with the more basic gear.

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

Yes, it's that simple and entirely down to the quality of lens used. Mind you, the user can make all the difference

John

Your so right John. The user is by far the most important part of the kit! The lens comes second.

[Wild-Woman]

Ahh! That's why mine are rubbish.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

Ahh! That's why mine are rubbish.

I'm sure they're not that bad julie - why not post a few so we can give you some constructive advise ?

[Roy C]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

Yes, it's that simple and entirely down to the quality of lens used. Mind you, the user can make all the difference

John

I agree with this - my photographic skills/knowledge are almost zilch but now I have got a few half decent lenses my images have improved a lot. I have noticed on other forums that most people who claim the kit has nothing to do with it are those with the best gear!

Roy

[MalcolmX]

the point i aam making is that you can set a picture to 300 dpi and you can have any size ccd the resulting clarity within the picture will depend on the amount of information captured by the ccd .i was also trying to clarify the iposition of roger tthe cat who seems to be confusing picture resolution with printing resolution /
it was not my intention to confuse so sorry if i did

[Alan]

Originally Posted by MALCOLMX

the point i aam making is that you can set a picture to 300 dpi and you can have any size ccd the resulting clarity within the picture will depend on the amount of information captured by the ccd .i was also trying to clarify the iposition of roger tthe cat who seems to be confusing picture resolution with printing resolution /
it was not my intention to confuse so sorry if i did

You wasn't confussing Malcolm, it's just a hard subject to grasp.

It's getting the terms dpi and pixels mixed up when related to resolution that always causes confussion for many, and it always will! Guess that's why the term ppi is now used more.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by MALCOLMX

the point i aam making is that you can set a picture to 300 dpi and you can have any size ccd the resulting clarity within the picture will depend on the amount of information captured by the ccd .

and thus the larger your CCD (or indeed CMOS) the more information you will capture and thus sensor size does have a very distinct bearing on DPi for any given picture size

[Jonny]

OK, one of my last point and shoot photo's was this.... below, on my sony H1, if I had a dslr would it be a better shot, and why? I am tempted into getting a dslr, probably a minolta 7d, if I got one. But as an amerter (sp ?) photographer, do I really need one. I am no photographer and I do not really understand all the settings and all that, should I stick with what I have, point and shoot. When Jenny (I think it was Jenny) put up that photo of the Roe deer and fawn the other day, with the reflection in the shot, I did not see the reflection because I was looking at the subject, it was only because you guys pointed it out, that I saw it. Should I just stick to point and shoot and hope for the best or would spending hundreds be worth it. I do get lots of photographic oppertunities, because I am out there a lot...............Jon

[Alan]

If I could get shots like that everytime Jon, I'd stick with the H1! It is certainly more convenient to carry around. I would say if you're happy with the pics you're getting at the minute, stick with the point and shoot, don't fix what you think isn't broken!

If you want to expand the posibilities though, and you would like to print out and frame your photos at larger sizes, or even sell the images for example, in the end you'd have to go the DSLR route.

It just gives you much more control over your options, such as shooting at greater distances and in unfavourable conditions. You'd have struggled at Bempton for example!

Of course the biggest downside of the DSLR route is the money you'll probably have to fork out - you always want that new lens/better macro/more stable tripod etc! Not to mention the ever increasing weight of the camera backpack!

One thing I would say though, is that once you've gone the DSLR route, you wont want to to back! If you're a complete novice, be prepared to spend a large amount of time getting to grips with the subject, and I mean a LARGE amount of time!

It's swings and roundabouts mate!