Camera pixel count

[chorleyjeff]

Slightly tongue in cheek I ask why there has been a megapixel race?

My IPad has a resolution of about 2000 x 1500 pixels and monitors usually fewer and laptop screens lower again. Projectors for camera club comps are, I think, about 1400 x 1000 pixels. So no more than 3MP needed

Few people seem to print pictures and then at no

more than A4 so pixels needed at 240ppi is about 5MP.

It would seem that 6MP is about the maximum that most people could possibly need so why the race to sell 20MP cameras? Should I be suspicious that it is just the market being persuaded to buy what it does not need - rather like 150 MPH motorbikes and cars.

Just musing while pretty much confined to quarters - can't drive or lift camera to eye level following op and doing physio 4 times a day! Oh, and my nice Tamron SP 70-300 lens is still at the repair shop.

Cheers

Jeff

[bugmeister]

Slightly tongue in cheek I ask why there has been a megapixel race?

 

Interesting question and it does come down to a number of factors.

 

On a personal basis, I use a 21Mp camera that lets me print at A0 if I really want to (I've used that for posters) without any problem.

 

The other main thing is that it allows me to crop-zoom if I can't get close enough to a subject and still have enough left to get a decent print. I occasionally break this but generally if it wouldn't print at A4 I don't keep it.

 

More generally, I would agree that the megapixel race is all about headline grabbing, few people will ever use the capability or capacity of a monster, but it sounds good. My first DSLR was 6Mp which gave good A3-A4 prints, my current phone has a 13Mp camera, but i've never even thought about printing from it.

 

Conversely, the larger the count, there tends to be a lower frame rate/buffer size which a number of people have said to me is of more consequence when they were choosing.

[jeremy rundle]

Hmmmmm

 

I see more and more people refer to their phones MP count, when in fact the small sensors can not compare to a FF or even cropped sensor in a dslr

[ChrisLumix]

You have three threads exactly the same.

 

I've replied in one of the other two.