How many pixels is enough??
How many pixels is enough?
I guess that many of us have programmed ourselves to want more of a good thing, and perhaps also to not know when we have enough.
There’s security in having more than we need, in the stored hoard, in the squirrel’s stash, for when the expected unexpected comes to pass: we crave reassurance that we’ll get by and be equipped to take any situation in our stride. There’s a glut of reality TV shows at the moment that deal with those who fill their house with collections of junk and precious belongings.
Do we act in a similarly illogical, paranoid and pathological manner when deciding how many pixels we need in a camera?
In reality, we only actually NEED around 6-millon pixels to take decent picture. Indeed, some of us remember a time not so long ago when we were grateful to aspire to owning so many. The sensor-population we need to accomplish what our style of photography requires or, more accurately, what the means we use to display our pictures demands, is a different matter.
There is no factual figure that determines when we have enough, as we all use our pictures in different ways, but if we are honest with ourselves and look with open eyes at what we do, we will easily see at least how many we don’t need. To read the rest of this article follow this link to the Techradar website
20 Mpx is sufficient for most jobs.
Damien, finally some sense in this time of pixel avarice. While I will admit to owning one of these pixel hungry cameras (D810), I have been dwelling on the question of need versus want. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of my images that have been printed larger that 12 by 16 inches. In every case the largest sensor used in the camera was 12 mp. They were mainly for exhibition and did not suffer for the enlargement.
I am sure the pixel count will go higher, Canon’s announcement in the last week starts yet another race for more photo sites. I have just spent a week in Madeira, with a ‘lowly’ Olympus E-M10, yet produced images with richness, depth and the necessary acuity for the output required. For nearly all ‘casual’ photographers, our output is typically on-line (in my case Blipfoto). On the basis of this experience I am now considering a wholesale move away from large dSLR to a smaller system, something some other photographers I have spoken to have either already done or are considering. I have invested many £1,000s in my Collection of cameras, lenses, flashes and other accessories and I think that, more than anything, makes my decision a very difficult one. I feel conflicted.
Perhaps in time there will be a rationalisation and we will reach a standard(s), much as we did in film days. Unfortunately the manufacturers will continue to use pixel count as a lure to make us upgrade and undoubtedly we will fall for it hook, line and sinker.