Beyond Megapixels

TheTechLounge points to this "first of a three-part series of editorial articles examining current digital photography hardware, as well as the author's views of what is to come." It boils down to the excellent point that pixel count alone is not the way to evaluate digital camera capabilities.

Comments

Re:Why were MP ever such a big deal?

[tzanger]

I have a Canon PowerShot A60 -- I chose it over other brands because I really like how my Canon Rebel EOS works and the A60 is very similar. 2.2MP isn't a hell of a lot, but it's enough to get 5x7 prints and have a chance in hell of it looking close to what I can get with a regular camera.

I completely disagree with your statement that digital cameras aren't used for prints -- I take a bazillion pictures, throw them up in 720x480 for the web for grandma and grandpa and then they tell me specifically which pictures they'd like prints of. I take the original 2.2MP JPEGs and give them to my film guy -- he touches them up and makes real 4x6 or 5x7 prints for me. They look fantastic and everyone's happy.

True, the bulk of my pictures stay in 720x480 but it's really nice to be able to get a 5x7 out of it should I want it. The amount of time I want 8x10s is next to nil; I go to the same photographer and get really good digital pictures taken in that case. (He's all but completely moved to a full digital studio.)

Re:Why were MP ever such a big deal?

[ForestGrump]

Heh, when I was taking calsses at a CC, I met a guy who worked as a photo tech at a drug store.
He told me that APS was just crap...and to avoid it like the plague.

He also said there was some thru the mail company, seattle film, or something like that. they would send people film, you send the film to them for processing. The quality on the film sucked because it was some different technology, and that you were locked into their scheme because you couldn't get it developed anywhere else..

Grump