The Megapixel Myth

dhruvagupta

Dec 15 2007, 11:26 AM

QUOTE

<quote>So how many times have we all gone out to buy a digi cam based on the mega pixel criteria??
Then why does a 7.2 MP camera from Tech Com costs Rs7000 while from Sony the same thing costs above 15K.
So now its time to look deeper into what actually determines the photo quality of your digital camera.It's a sensor which is of two types
1-CCD sensor
2-CMOS sensor
Mega pixels only determine how much will you be able to scale your images.

Now coming to the sensors.
CCD sensors are expensive but the photo quality over CMOS is passable.
CMOS sensors are cheaper,require less battery power but actually the photo quality b/w CMOS and CCD sensors is just not comparable.All mobiles come up with only CMOS sensor cameras

SO now u probably know why a 5 MP camera from SONY costs more. :-)

</quote>

Source-www.tecktalk.blogspot.com

bhavesh

Dec 16 2007, 07:07 AM

CCD (Charge Coupled Device) and CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) both sensors are used to convert light into voltages. But there is a basic difference between the two.

In CMOS a circuit is incorporated in the pixels itself to change the image to digital form, thus the surface of the pixel is not fully utilized to capture image, compromising with the image quality but size is small and thats why used in mobiles.

In CCD the whole surface is used to capture image and the analog output of these pixels are then changed into digital form by an extra circuitry. Thus resulting in bulkier size but with superb image quality.

heavensounds

Dec 16 2007, 09:45 AM

That is very interesting to know, because I always kind of new that those cameras on mobile phones just cannotbe as good as normal ones, but I didn't know exactly why.

FLaKes

Dec 16 2007, 10:58 AM

I always thought that the more megapixels and the name of the brand the better, but I wouldnt buy a camera anyways, I dont take much pictures. I am doing alright with the camera that came in my phone, I might upgrade to a cybershot cellphone in a couple of months. That way I can have an mp3 player, a camera and a phone all in one. Because I would really hate to carry a camera and an ipod and a phone... to much space!

dhruvagupta

Dec 17 2007, 09:24 AM

U see if u want A4 size print a 3 MEGA PIXEL camera would do u a world of good.with CCD sensor though...

hitmanblood

Dec 17 2007, 11:17 PM

Yes but it also influences that is influenced by some other criterias such as. Whether or not you have some software or ebtter to say firmware that will control stillness of picture and so on. Because on high resolutions some pictures might not look smooth and it will be distracted

ozzi

Jan 8 2008, 04:05 AM

I think megapixels are just for the size of the image, I'm happier with a cheaper samsung 5mp camera than with a sony 7.2 mp but expensive

flood

Jan 15 2008, 01:50 PM

I always wondered about this. Thank You for confirming my suspicions. Although I am no camera expert I know that
the camera lense also affects the quality of the picture. Therefore the image can only be as good as the Lense. So using a basic lensed camera at 8MP is useless. While using perhaps a Schneider lense at 8MP will take a much better photo.

Alex

stardan

Jan 19 2008, 06:07 PM

I have Sony W850 with 2MP and... this is fantastic! Super quality! As professional photo-camera....

anachro

Jan 19 2008, 08:13 PM

I didn't know this (an I partially sell cameras :'( )

So Sony's use the CCD sensor, which WOULD contribute to why we sell them at generally higher prices; right?

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mm22

Jul 29 2008, 12:58 PM

yes, when buying a digital camera we shouldn't forget that it is first of all a CAMERA, therefore its most important part should be its lens and opto-mechanical properties in general (aperture, shutter time, etc.)

having said that, the mega pixel count is certainly important but it usually suffices for most purposes whenever it is higher than 3MP... digital processing also plays a fundamental role in enhancing the performance of the hardware, achieving results that would probably be out of reach for film cameras with a similar hardware

sure we need a lot of megapixels if we ever want to print out pictures on a big format or crop out portions of an image... I've read somewhere that 16MP would provide the same quality we obtained with a traditional film camera, is that true? I believe it might depend on the sensitivity (ISO) of the film anyway...

jespert

Jul 24 2008, 04:17 PM

One thing that most camera manufacturers have failed to increase is the dynamic range of cameras. The higher the dynamic range, the more levels of light can be represented in the picture. With most digital cameras when you take a picture of a scene with very bright and very dark sections, the camera fails to capture the brightest or darkest areas. Of course in order to take full advantage of a mythical camera with very high dynamic range one would want a monitor with increased dynamic range to view it on.

gaspe86

Apr 3 2008, 05:01 AM

Wow. thanks for this topic. I am currently looking for a digital camera. Now I know how to select the best one.

Becca

Feb 4 2008, 08:45 PM

Yeahh you don't actually NEED a camera with more 3mp with 6mp being the max. My camera is 10mp only because the camera I wanted conveniently had 10mp.

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