Text 48815, 58 rader
Skriven 2008-09-12 12:06:08 av Jeff Guerdat (1:124/311)
     Kommentar till en text av Alan Zisman
Ärende: Re: is 12mp really necessary.
=====================================
Alan Zisman wrote:

> The other conclusion is that 12 to 24 Mp is rarely necessary for most
> users.... in my opinion, megapixels, as a way to rate and compare
> digital cameras is oversold.
> 
> It's used because it's easy, even though false, to conclude that a 12
> Mp camera MUST be better than an 8 or 10 Mp camera.
> 
> Yes-- to effectively zoom/crop, more pixels is better... but at more
> common viewing and printing situations, better optics are more
> important than higher pixel count.

Yeah, but...  The major issue with more pixels is that, for a given size
sensor, the pixel pitch becomes smaller, leading to less light per pixel
and more noise that has to be cancelled out.  Better optics, especially
maximum aperture, certainly helps but stopping down for depth of field,
etc. tends to negate that.  Of course, better optics may make the image 
sharper in the first place so it's a choice of what you need.

The problem is that cameras use one spec to denote "better" - pixel 
count - just as computers tend to use one spec - CPU speed.  You have to 
view the whole system to know what is important to you and why.  I 
choose higher pixel counts because I can't always crop in the camera the 
way I want but then I use a camera with larger photosites in the first 
place (i.e. the sensor is larger).  With a point-and-shoot, the issue 
changes significantly due to sensor size/pixel size and pitch as well as 
optics and processing power.  This is somewhat analogous to a small 
laptop which has to use a slower CPU and RAM size, partly due to 
power/battery restrictions.  There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

Does that mean the laptop (Shawn's Eee) or the p-n-s camera is 
worthless?  Of course not because it needs to be fitted to the user's 
needs and desires.  More pixels or GHz. doesn't automatically make it 
better for any given purpose.  You can certainly adequately use either 
in a large number of circumstances with little or no issue.  To think 
that more isn't sometimes better, however, is a false position because 
the rest of the facts haven't been presented.

Most people likely waste their time and money on more pixels and CPU 
speed because they don't know better and believe the advertising without 
actually thinking about the claims.  Of course, they do the same thing 
with cell phones, TVs, cars, houses and damned near everything else that 
gets advertised.  We've created our own monster in the advertising 
business...  :-p

> In 2002, I took a 2 Mp Fuji digital camera to Europe; I was able to
> get good 8x10" printouts as long as I wasn't cropping.



-- 
Jeff Guerdat

Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will
clean them? - George Carlin
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