Any Photographers Here ? - What do you think is the best resolution for digital camera ?

xip

May 11 2006, 09:48 PM

that is,
as by the way the megapixels count is up and growing, it seems there is no limit, 4 -5 -6 -7 some SLRs have 10 and 12 megapixel, but do you think that huge resolution is needed at all ?
What is more important? A high megapixel resolution or a good lens attached on a camera ?

The discussion is served ! let see your opinions !!!

evought

May 11 2006, 10:50 PM

QUOTE(xip @ May 11 2006, 04:48 PM)

For me, the lens is definitely more important, particularly a decent range of optical zoom. I take pictures of everything from landscapes to close ups of plants or documents. I generally end up trimming down pictures anyway, so anything over 4 megapixels is not especially useful 99.9% of the time.

My camera (a Kodak EasyShare Z700) has a decent optical zoom and a number of preset modes for the different types of photos I want to take, such as a document mode for emailing forms or importing pencil sketches. It basically does what I want and I think the newer cameras are overkill for most people.

Quatrux

May 12 2006, 05:00 AM

It depends what you want to do with the taken pictures, if you just want them to be on your computer, 1024x768 can be enough, because it will almost be the same except the filesize difference. Say you want to make the photos, a higher resolution is suggested, but it also depends on the size of the photo you want to get. Higher resolution images can be edited with some graphics software like Photoshop much better than low res images. So the higher resolution, the better quality you get, if you want to make a picture like A4 paper, then you'll need a high resolution photo taken with your digital camera.. etc.l

sparx

May 12 2006, 05:07 AM

It actually depends on the subject that you're shooting and the amount of details required. For everyday snapshots, I recommend nothing less than a 3 or maybe a 4 megapixel optical resolution camera. The increasing amount of megapixels being stacked up manufacturers will be akin to somethng like the in-bult memory being offered in cell phones. One of my earliest phones had a 50 name address book and that was aadvertised as its USP. My current phone has the ability to store 10 times as many contacts and with more entries per contact too. How many do I actually use? Just under 50 (so my earlier device would have been enough). In case of digicams, increasing the number of megapixels isn't the only way that picture quality is being improved. Better CCDs and increasing the battery life is definitely on the improvement to-do list.

I still maintain that only a digicam SLR with at least 8 megapixels and an exceptional lens will make me get rid of my existing Nikon FM manual SLR. Granted - the longer processing times for getting an image does get to me at times. The amount of configurable options available at 1/3 of the price of a similarly loaded D-SLR stills makes me keep my old and trusty sidekick. For macro and close-ups, I prefer my manual SLR. The 5 MP digicam (non SLR) tha I have is used for snapshots and for when lugging around my full kit is impractical.

xip

May 12 2006, 11:39 AM

In fact I agree with all of you, above 4 or 5 megapixel is not needed unless you need large prints.
But what sparx said makes me think...

QUOTE(sparx @ May 12 2006, 05:07 AM)

...
I still maintain that only a digicam SLR with at least 8 megapixels and an exceptional lens will make me get rid of my existing Nikon FM manual SLR. Granted - the longer processing times for getting an image does get to me at times.
...

The camera manufacturers in short will no produce film cameras. Nikon has announced recently the discontinuation of all of their film cameras except F6.
In my opinion, nowadays there is no digital camera that can outperform film, but seems the marketing guys are doing a good job promoting digital products.

I'm afraid that in short, film will start to dissapear from commerces... so we can't load our film cameras anymore.

organicbmx

May 14 2006, 02:06 PM

i am very doubtful that film will ever die. it will most likely continue long after it is finantially viable purely through the support of die hards. and it is likely to stay viable untill the cinema industry goes compleatly digital, which though happening is a way off.

as for the original question. although the quality of the lense is very important i feel that megapixel is more important. purely becasue it would be very hard to find a 8mp camera that could even take a bad lense. the stock lenses on the lowest range DSLRs are still perfectly adequate. obviously better is better.

megapixel size is very important if the images are every to go to print. not publication is likely to use any image at any good size inless the size was at least 5/6mp. right now i am about to go out to take some images for promotional purporses and i am just going to use a 8.1mp EOS 350D. this camera i feel has adequate megapixels for the job, but any lower would be a problem.

i think that we will se very large mp sizes in the furture and this will only be a good thing because general image quailty will improve. it is very likely in my mind that the resolution of digital will soon exceed the grain of film. however film will always have its own quality.

anewgame

Sep 28 2006, 01:14 PM

QUOTE(xip @ May 11 2006, 09:48 PM)

If I have to choose a resolution and/or lens for a picture / set of pictures I need to take, I always think about the type of picture I need to take...
Sure, it's always about finding a right combination, which sometimes may result in making a compromise

If I need a pic with lots of details I will use a big resolution, which if course will be totally unuseful if I use wrong lens and the image is not clear enogh....
So, the ideal solution is to find good lenses and cameras with big resolution, this way u have nothing to lose: if u want smaller pics u can resize/crop them after.

bad-and-ugly

Oct 8 2006, 09:28 PM

Basicly... it depends on what you want '=) Resolution is only about the size of the picture. I think 3 mega pixels can produce a 13x18cm print. If you use a digital camera only for internet (you only see your pictures on the screen, never print them), I think 3 or 4 MP are good enough.

unimatrix

Oct 8 2006, 10:08 PM

It depends if your an amataur, hobbiest, or professional. Pros have been buying new cameras every year as the more mega pixals, the better large pictures they can take for weddings and what not. It's just been in the last year when the 12MP cameras came out that the some of the photographers I know finally leave their film cameras at home unless specifically requested.

For my use, 5MP is plenty to due nice 8x10's and that's all I need. Most of the time I use my camera to make pics for ebay and that's about it.

Houdini

Oct 8 2006, 11:04 PM

Basically as one who has used both film and digital cameras since 1972 there are only a few things that I consider. One of these being that I do not use film cameras at all anymore...you have more latitude with a digital camera and the software to improve or alter a bad shot is overwhelming, and much more then 4 megapixels is probably more that most people would actually need...the ease of use of a digital camera is best when you can view comfortably the framed shot and the focal point and with the aid of the camera with autofocus and other matters such as white brightness or else or determining if a flash is needed for the shot.

With most shots 4 megapixels max is more than enough for a very great shotwhich can be edited or croped with no real loss of quality even when blown up by 10 times to a large print like an 8 x 10 inch print from a tiny section that was 1x 3 or 1 x 4..

The best way to explain this is how good would a picture look if you were able to try to reproduce it with a series of dots, using a resolution of 16 x 16 pixels or grains (using film) below see an example

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Above a rough example of 8 x 16 pixels there fore a resolution of 128 pixels. Now lets blow it up by 2 or double and see the result.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

As you can see as you enlarge smaller sections of a given resolution the pixels or grains (in film) become enlarged and spread out so when you take a picutre with many pixels than you would not have as exageratted effect as you would with a small resolution of say 1.2 megapixels which is good enough for an 8" x 10" but not a poster that is lifesize where you would want at least 4 - 6 megapixels.

I just bought a Nikon Cool Pix L4 and it is sleek well organized and at 129.95 $ US I am very pleased with how it operates and the features that come with it. By the way here's a pic at medium resolution for a PC with this camera that I just took a couple of hours ago.

IPB Image

As you can see I need to cut the grass and tidy up but the rest is nice and could be cropped to a nice pic for stilllife photography any way.

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yordan

Oct 9 2006, 12:27 PM

I used a 1.4 Million pixels camera with a very decent, rather large lens (an Olympus digital camera) and it gave me very nice pictures.
I also have a 3 Million pixel camera with a rather small and very poor lens, and it gives me far less agreeable pictures.
And, of course, in order to be comfortably seen on most of websites, correctly displayed after fast download, your pictures will have to be decreased to 800*600 pixels, which is half a million pixels.

abartar

Oct 9 2006, 10:54 AM

As said earlier the type and complexities of the camera depends on the object and the purpose of shooting..

In my view a lense is as important as mega pixel and to an extent the lense should be considered above the resolution..

There are several types of digital camera lenses:

Optical zoom lens: An optical zoom is a true zoom. Its focal length actually extends and retracts. An image is magnified by the lens itself. An optical zoom produces the best quality images. A zoom lens is used to magnify an image 3X, 4X, 10X and more. Very long zooms are prone to camera shake, particularly in low light. To help prevent this, some digital cameras have image stabilization.

Digital zoom lens: A digital zoom is not a true zoom. It is a simulated zoom that enlarges the central portion of an image. The actual length of the lens does not change. A digital zoom pre-crops the center area of an image. Resolution is reduced, giving the appearance of zooming in. It is similar cropping with photo editing software. A digital camera may have an option to turn off the digital zoom.

Interchangeable and Converter lenses: Single Lens Reflex digital (dSLR) cameras accept a wide range of interchangeable lenses. Lenses used with a 35mm film SLR may be compatible with the same brand dSLR. Add-on converter lenses are available for many digital cameras.

Resolution Affects Output:

Most digital cameras allow you to change the resolution setting, so you can fit more or fewer images on your memory card. This can be a helpful feature if you only have one card or if you are on a trip and can't transfer photos to your computer. But if you take a photo of a spectacular sunset, and you capture it on a lower resolution setting like 800x600, you may be unhappy with the result if you want a 5x7 or 8x10 print. That's because the low resolution image lacks detail, and may also appear jagged. Carrying additional memory cards and keeping the camera set on its highest resolution setting is a better solution.

The higher the photograph's resolution, the more plentiful printing and sharing options exist. With this in mind, the best bet is to shoot photos at the highest resolution your camera can capture. Moreover you can make more changes to the photograph on the computer if the resolution is good.

To summarise if the lense is not good no matter how high your resolution is you will not get good output as output will depends on input which is through the lense...

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