Let's talk Megapixels

[FatCow]

I know it's not an assurance in picture quality, but I'm just curious what MP digicams fellow DISers use.

 

[safetymom]

It's not only the megapixels that matters. The quality of the optics, size and quality of the sensor can make a bigger difference than the megapixels.

Also if you aren't going to print larger than 4x6 or so no need for a high megapixel camera. It all depends on what you are going to do with the images.

I had a 3 megapixel camera that printed beautiful 13x19 prints. Many pros were impressed with the quality.

 

[LoraJ]

I have a cannon that is 3.2mp.

I have had it for about 3 years and it has been great. The quality is amazing.

 

[Micca]

DW has a 3.0 she seems to like, and use, a lot

 

[FroggyinArk]

has a samsung 4.0 that has built in and additional memory card capabilities I took all the haunted house photos with it, and as long as i remember to set it properly it does a great job

 

[FatCow]

Did you guys hear about Epson's latest blunder?

5 MP but with Fixed Focus!

 

[safetymom]

Fat Cow, I don't agree with your statement. There will be many people that buy that camera and love it. I have 2 Epson cameras and people rave over the quality of the photo.

Not one camera suits everybody. That's why there are so many models.

I am sure before Epson decided to market it that they talked with lots of pros. I am sure it will be a good seller for them.

 

[FatCow]

can you imagine the bluriness of 5MP using fixed-focus lens. Not outo focus, fixed focus. It's like buying an HDTV just to watch regular VHS tape... or like buying a disposable camera and hoping it will yield a great picture because it's using higher-resolution film.

correction: Epson have changed their spec from Fixed Focus to Auto Focus... now THIS makes sense.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0409/04093001epson_l500v.asp

 

[safetymom]

I would look at the Epson site before I would believe a site that is posting a review when viewing the specs.

I have read many reviews where it is obvious that they never looked at the manual before they attempted to use the product.

 

[FatCow]

Yeah, but this is DP Review. It is THE authority in digital photography reviews. Besides, the specs on that link was submitted by Epson.

 

[shelbyjosh]

My Kodak is a 3.1 and it is great. It is 3 years old and working just fine. I also have a Sony Cybershot 2.0 that doesn't deliver near as great of pics as my Kodak.

 

[Annette_VA]

I have a Sony DSC-p72 which is 3.2 and a Sony DSC-f717 which is 5.

 

[FatCow]

c'mon I need statistics.. albeit a skewed one.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I have a 3.1 which has gotten me great 16X20 prints.

 

[Lachesis00]

I love DP Review!!

I have a sony 717. Love it!

 

[Dan Murphy]

I use an old 3+ Nikon, though almost every picture I take is about 250 K at most.

 

[Elwood Blues]

I agree with safetymom. It's not really the sheer number of megapixels, it's the optics and the quality of the sensor that are the main reason for image quality. In addition to that, the camera's image processor and internal software have a small part in the quality of the image.

I have a (4 year old) Olympus 2100 (2.1mp with 10X OPTICAL zoom + image stabilization) that takes great pictures. I bought an Olympus Stylus 400 (4mp 3X optical zoom) and sent it back. The pictures were much worse than my 2.1mp model 2100.

I recently upgraded to a Nikon D70 (6.1mp DSLR) and the pictures from it are far superior to the Olympus.

I see me keeping this camera for a long long time.

One review site that I like a little better than dpreview for comparing image quality from different cameras is www.steves-digicams.com.

He takes several pictures of the same subjects with the cameras he reviews. This is much more helpful than looking at a picture of a cat from one brand and comparing it to a picture of a house from another brand.

 

[FatCow]

I'm not arguing the merits of everything else, I just want to know how many MP most people at the DISboards are using.

If it is just MP that matters than professional photographers will use Kodak 14MP camera, which in the end yields worse result than a 6MP Rebel Digital at ISO400 setting.

 

[Kimickey]

I use two cameras.

One is the Sony CD Mavica 2.1. My second camera is the Sony Cybershot 5.0 that I just got this past summer. I will soon be trading in my Sony CD Mavica 2.1 for the Sony CD Mavica 5.0.

 

[dcg0317]

I have the Sony Mavica cd500 which is 5mp and love it, I bought it last year and one big reason was it burnt the image right to a mini disk and at the time I had an older computer and it needed to much upgradeing and updateing to use the compact flash cards, I didn't even have a usb port. Kimickey I know you will just love the new cd500 especialy if you already own the cd mavica 2.1, has so many more features.