Beyond Megapixels - Part I
By Joe Marney thetechlounge.com
This is a great article and the author promises more. He clearly explains why you should not be sucked in by the number of megapixels in digital cameras today. A 5 megapixel camera can be better than a new 8 megapixel camera.
I just purchased a Canon S1 which is 3.2MP but has an awesome optical zoom and built in image stabilizer to prevent those common blurred images because of moiving the camera when shooting. I had to get a new camera because my Canon S45 was with me on a recent kayaking trip and fell in seawater with me.
-Shaan
Now some quotes from the article to peak your interest.
"An 8 megapixel outputs a larger, higher resolution image than the 6 megapixel cameras and is therefore superior, right? Wrong."
"A photosite (one of the millions of receptors on a sensor that capture each pixel) on an APS sized sensor are larger than a photosite on a 2/3” sized sensor, and due to its larger size, it can capture light more easily. This light is digitized into the information that makes up your final image. Analogously, imagine 8 million 16oz cups versus 6 million 5-gallon buckets that are all filled with water. The water is then poured into two rectangular reservoirs measuring 300 feet by 150feet. While the area of water in the two reservoirs is equal, the water collected from the 5-gallon buckets is much, much deeper."
One of the artles reader's comments to the article adds more data:
"One of the things to take note, is alot of the current 8 Megapixels Pro-sumer cameras on the market right now (Canon Pro1, Sony 828, Olympus 8080[not sure], etc) Use the same Sony 5MP Sensor. The sensor itself is actually 5MP but produces an 8MP result. Furthermore the smaller sensor size on the pro-sumer cameras increase the noise, chromatic abberations and other things, it also kills the ability to create a shallow DOF. "
Go read the article - Link to Article
