The end of megapixel race

The more megapixel, the better. This is what average person believe in. Well, it may be true generally. But may not on some cases. It depends on who you are and what you need. Akira Watanabe, manager of Olympus Imaging SLR department, said “Twelve megapixel is, I think, enough for covering most applications most customers need” to ZDNet. What does he mean ?

The megapixel myth

Generally, there are 2 kinds of photographer, those who snap for fun and artistic shot (amateurs) and those who snap in a studio (professional). These professionals prefer camera with more MP because they need it for large size prints. With higher MP, the larger one can print because higher MP means smoother image.

While for amateurs, I can safely assume that most of the time images taken will be not be viewed in 100% resolution. But rather in screen size resolution. Say, 800×600. That is not even 1 MP. Thus, 12 MP for average users is more than enough, if not overkill. Not to mention it consume larger disk space and takes a lot more RAM and processing power.

“We don’t think 20 megapixel is necessary for everybody. If a customer wants more than 12 megapixel, he should go to the full-frame models,” Watanabe said.

Beyond megapixel

Finally the big names of digital camera has realized this. Quite late though, but at least they do. As of 2007, the race still goes on. But starting from late 2008, things changes. If this is automotive industry, the game has shift from horsepower to safety feature or fuel consumption. In pixels world, it shift from MP to noise handling, image quality, or even video recording feature. As seen in Nikon D90 and Canon 5D Mk II.

This, I believe, is how this industry should compete.

Sauce: arstechnica

Tags: dslr, megapixel, photography, pixel