FZ1000 Offer of the century, Reykjavik |
There has been much excitement on user forums and internet review sites recently.
We have seen the release of hand held cameras with 24 then 36 then 42 and now 50 megapixels.
Wow !!
Suddenly, maybe, every camera owner wants 50 Mpx.
I bet that is what the makers hope anyway.
It seems to me that they are offering these previously unheard of pixel counts
a) because they can, and
b) because sales of most camera types have fallen in the last five years and they are looking for something, anything, to refocus (pun intended) potential buyers minds and money on cameras, preferably high value ones.
Who needs 50 Mpx ?
I guess there are professional photographers who are able to use high pixel counts to commercial and perhaps in some cases, artistic advantage.
But most photos are displayed in print or electronic media at much lower resolutions.
So for most photographers I really wonder about the benefits of super pixel counts.
Whole Chart FZ1000 This has been downsized and compressed for the internet so I expect you will not be able to read all the words. |
Camera vision vs human vision
I have an informal lens test chart which consists of 9 sheets of small print classified newspaper advertisements taped to a flat board 900x600mm in size.
This does not give standardised measurements but it does allow me to compare one camera/lens combination with all the others I have tested.
It also allows me to compare my own visual capacity with that of my cameras.
My eyes function pretty well. When I go to the ophthalmologist and do the visual acuity test at 6 meters I can read the line on the chart which indicates I do not need spectacles, although I do have a pair of 1 diopter specs for close ups, maps and the like.
I can read all the words on one section of my camera/lens test chart with specs on and my eyes about 400mm from the chart. I cannot read all the words all at once.
But my cameras can easily do so.
Even my little 16 Mpx G7 micro four thirds camera with a $100 kit lens (The 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 (2) for those interested) can read all the words on the whole chart, including the corners.
The 20 Mpx FZ1000 is even better. It can easily distinguish all the words, even the smallest, right to the corners and could manage even smaller words if I had them on the chart.
Chart performance usefully predicts resolution of ordinary subjects in the real world.
12Mpx cameras like my Panasonic LX100 make excellent photos which print up well even at large sizes.
16 Mpx models like the G7 are able to distinguish more details in a scene than I can see with my own decently sharp eyes.
20 Mpx models are able to resolve massive amounts of subject information, well beyond the capacity of most human eyes.
Conclusion: Camera makers want you to read about, get excited about and buy a full frame model with mega millions of pixels and a bag full of expensive lenses which are needed if the imaging potential of all those pixels is to be realised.
But for the vast majority of photographs, even those most professionals might make, a much smaller, less ambitious, less expensive model will easily do the job.
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