I get annoyed with folks who are bragging that their compact camera has 10 (or more) megapixels and the Canon I use here at the office only has eight. But my pictures come out a hell of a lot better. Why? Because not only do I know how to take decent photos and how to use my camera (which is another thing entirely), but because the image sensor is a hell of a lot bigger and bigger sensors generally mean much better color and lighting. My sensor is more than triple the size of some of those things. Hell, I’d take a full-frame six-megapixel camera over any compact double-digit camera any day.
So folks: When shopping for cameras, megapixels are nice and all, but be sure to compare image sensor sizes. If they’re not published on the box and you can’t find it online, you shouldn’t be buying the camera anyway (nearly all reputable manufacturers publish them on the box).
Comments
Amen to that!
Did I ever tell you about that client who quizzed me about my camera during an architectural shoot – only to exclaim that his camera had *the same amount of megapixels* as mine! (This was in the old 10D days, when point-and-shoots quickly started catching up to pro cameras in megapixel count, but of course remained vastly inferior in function and image quality).
He promptly pulled the camera from his shirt pocket too and showed it off, then commented out loud if he maybe should have saved himself some money and just shot the house himself.
In his defense – he was a *realtor*. He didn’t know any better…
Once he saw the final images, he conceded he couldn’t have gotten those results with his camera (never mind the skill and experience I brought to the job too).
But – he never hired me again. And I can’t say I was particularly sad about that…
Then there’s this article to back you up, Jake.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm
Greg