robwbright
Member
- Apr 8, 2005
- 2,283
- 0
Ladies and Gents:
I know next to nothing about digital cameras - but I know my wife dropped ours at the beach and we need a new one. I'm planning on purchasing the same camera (Sony DSC 40 or whatever it was) because it takes pics that are just fine for what we're doing. Anyway, in looking for cameras, I came across the following article. It makes sense to me, but like I said, I don't know much about it.
Does it appear to be accurate to your understanding of things?
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm
The Megapixel Myth
by Ken Rockwell
(For example:)
"Small differences in pixel count, between say 5 MP and 8MP, are unimportant because pixel counts are a square function. It's exactly like calculating area or square footage. It only takes a 40% increase in linear dimensions to double the pixel count! Doubling pixel count only increases the real, linear resolution by 40%, which is pretty much invisible."
"One needs about a doubling of linear resolution or film size to make an obvious improvement. This is the same as a quadrupling of megapixels. A simple doubling of megapixels, even if all else remained the same, is very subtle. The factors that matter, like color and sharpening algorithms, are far more significant.
The megapixel myth is also prevalent because men always want a single number by which something's goodness can be judged.
Unfortunately, it's all a myth because the number of megapixels (MP) a camera has has very little to do with how the image looks. Even worse, plenty of lower MP cameras can make better images than poorer cameras with more MP."
I know next to nothing about digital cameras - but I know my wife dropped ours at the beach and we need a new one. I'm planning on purchasing the same camera (Sony DSC 40 or whatever it was) because it takes pics that are just fine for what we're doing. Anyway, in looking for cameras, I came across the following article. It makes sense to me, but like I said, I don't know much about it.
Does it appear to be accurate to your understanding of things?
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm
The Megapixel Myth
by Ken Rockwell
(For example:)
"Small differences in pixel count, between say 5 MP and 8MP, are unimportant because pixel counts are a square function. It's exactly like calculating area or square footage. It only takes a 40% increase in linear dimensions to double the pixel count! Doubling pixel count only increases the real, linear resolution by 40%, which is pretty much invisible."
"One needs about a doubling of linear resolution or film size to make an obvious improvement. This is the same as a quadrupling of megapixels. A simple doubling of megapixels, even if all else remained the same, is very subtle. The factors that matter, like color and sharpening algorithms, are far more significant.
The megapixel myth is also prevalent because men always want a single number by which something's goodness can be judged.
Unfortunately, it's all a myth because the number of megapixels (MP) a camera has has very little to do with how the image looks. Even worse, plenty of lower MP cameras can make better images than poorer cameras with more MP."
