I have a question about megapixels.

[Whitlicious]

I've posted in this area of the forum before, and here I am again with another question.
I just want to know the importance of megapixels when it comes to photography. The more, the merrier? Or does it not really matter? Does it depend on what kind of photography you want to pursue (I am pursuing macro)? I am trying to decide between two digital SLR cameras at the moment - one with 18 megapixels and the other with 12.2 megapixels.
Thanks for taking a look at this!

 

[Don Kondra]

Very generally speaking it only relates to how big you wish to print.

How the camera model handles high iso, # of fps, weather sealing, etc. may be of more importance to your shooting style.

Cheers, Don

 

[vipgraphx]

Mega mixels is how much info they can cram into a given area. Its a double edge sword depending on how you look at it. Yes the more the merrier but also will see more noise and gain the higher you go up in MP. However the higher you go the more you can crop and enlarge because there is more info to work with. Lenses also have an impact on MP. If you have a high mega pixel camera and a cheapo lens you will not reap the benefits of the high MP.

If you will not be doing really big enlargements 12-16mp is more than enough. If you want to print big posters than yes you need more MP.

A lower MP camera may look like it has less noise at a high ISO than a camera with a higher MP at the same image size that the smaller MP can produce. One you go beyond that point the the higher MP camera will then look better as the print/image is enlarged. You will start to see pixelation with the lower MP camera where the higher MP camera you won't until you reach its max size.

So it depends on what you will be doing and the quality of the glass.

 

[MReid]

12 should be plenty unless you plan on taking very large crops after capture. That is mostly where the megapixels come in.....since most people don't make huge prints anyway.

 

[Village Idiot]

Mega mixels is how much info they can cram into a given area.

Not really. One megapixel equal one million pixels. A megapixel is a measurement of pixels. You could have a 12MP sensor that has less pixels per area than an 8MP sensor if the sensor sizes are different.

Its a double edge sword depending on how you look at it. Yes the more the merrier but also will see more noise and gain the higher you go up in MP.

Again, not all together correct. Grain is a film term and noise is digital. The general consensus is that more MP = more noise, but you also have to take the camera's processing ability into account as well as other factors. A canon 20D will have more noise at the same ISO as a Canon 5D MKII or III with the former having 8MP and the latter having 21MP.

If you will not be doing really big enlargements 12-16mp is more than enough. If you want to print big posters than yes you need more MP.

Back when the original 5D was a beast of a camera with 12MP, I was shooting with a 30D and printing 24"x36" photos for clients off of 8MP files. They were edited sharp and upsized to get the best quality possible. What's considered a big size to where you would need more than 16MP if 8MP can do a good quality 24"x36" print?

A lower MP camera may look like it has less noise at a high ISO than a camera with a higher MP at the same image size that the smaller MP can produce. One you go beyond that point the the higher MP camera will then look better as the print/image is enlarged. You will start to see pixelation with the lower MP camera where the higher MP camera you won't until you reach its max size.

So it depends on what you will be doing and the quality of the glass.

A larger images file with more noize that's downsized will have less apparent noise at that point, so a lower MP image may appear to have more noise than a high MP image at the same size if the higher MP image is downsized. And with today's programs, you can enlarge images without large quality degradation to a certain extent if you do it right.

 

[Whitlicious]

Thanks for the replies, guys! That will help my decision making big time. I really appreciate the time you all took to write something back. Thank you!

 

[LuckySe7en]

Manufacturers use MP to sell the camera. Truth is most of these point and shoot cameras with 18mp are way overkill. Most consumers will not be printing out poster size prints. Most of them prints 4x6s, 5x7s or maybe even an 8x10 in which an 8mp can handle easily.
One thing people don't realize when they go with these higher mp cameras is that they use more memory and they're a b*^#h to upload to your computer unless you use some sort of transfer thingy.

In short, you'll be fine with a 12mp dslr

 

[Whitlicious]

When I had my point-and-shoot Kodak Easyshare (it had about 12 MP) the photos always came out sharp and clear. So I am comfortable buying a camera that has around 12 MP again just based off of that.
I didn't realize that more MP uses more memory, but when you think about it it makes perfect sense. Haha Thank you for that helpful knowledge!

 

[Village Idiot]

Manufacturers use MP to sell the camera. Truth is most of these point and shoot cameras with 18mp are way overkill. Most consumers will not be printing out poster size prints. Most of them prints 4x6s, 5x7s or maybe even an 8x10 in which an 8mp can handle easily.
One thing people don't realize when they go with these higher mp cameras is that they use more memory and they're a b*^#h to upload to your computer unless you use some sort of transfer thingy.

In short, you'll be fine with a 12mp dslr

Card reader?

When I had my point-and-shoot Kodak Easyshare (it had about 12 MP) the photos always came out sharp and clear. So I am comfortable buying a camera that has around 12 MP again just based off of that.
I didn't realize that more MP uses more memory, but when you think about it it makes perfect sense. Haha Thank you for that helpful knowledge!

I'm betting $50 he meant drive space. A 21MP RAW file from a 5D MKII takes up about 20MB, IIRC. It's not bad if you have a storage solution set up to handle it.

Also, MP count does not eaqual sharpness, not really. A camera with too dense a pixel spread and bad optics will be worse off than a lower MP camera with a better lens. Higher MP = more resolution.

 

[LuckySe7en]

Manufacturers use MP to sell the camera. Truth is most of these point and shoot cameras with 18mp are way overkill. Most consumers will not be printing out poster size prints. Most of them prints 4x6s, 5x7s or maybe even an 8x10 in which an 8mp can handle easily.
One thing people don't realize when they go with these higher mp cameras is that they use more memory and they're a b*^#h to upload to your computer unless you use some sort of transfer thingy.

In short, you'll be fine with a 12mp dslr

Card reader?

When I had my point-and-shoot Kodak Easyshare (it had about 12 MP) the photos always came out sharp and clear. So I am comfortable buying a camera that has around 12 MP again just based off of that.
I didn't realize that more MP uses more memory, but when you think about it it makes perfect sense. Haha Thank you for that helpful knowledge!

I'm betting $50 he meant drive space. A 21MP RAW file from a 5D MKII takes up about 20MB, IIRC. It's not bad if you have a storage solution set up to handle it.

Also, MP count does not eaqual sharpness, not really. A camera with too dense a pixel spread and bad optics will be worse off than a lower MP camera with a better lens. Higher MP = more resolution.

Do you always do this?

 

[Village Idiot]

Manufacturers use MP to sell the camera. Truth is most of these point and shoot cameras with 18mp are way overkill. Most consumers will not be printing out poster size prints. Most of them prints 4x6s, 5x7s or maybe even an 8x10 in which an 8mp can handle easily.
One thing people don't realize when they go with these higher mp cameras is that they use more memory and they're a b*^#h to upload to your computer unless you use some sort of transfer thingy.

In short, you'll be fine with a 12mp dslr

Card reader?

When I had my point-and-shoot Kodak Easyshare (it had about 12 MP) the photos always came out sharp and clear. So I am comfortable buying a camera that has around 12 MP again just based off of that.
I didn't realize that more MP uses more memory, but when you think about it it makes perfect sense. Haha Thank you for that helpful knowledge!

I'm betting $50 he meant drive space. A 21MP RAW file from a 5D MKII takes up about 20MB, IIRC. It's not bad if you have a storage solution set up to handle it.

Also, MP count does not eaqual sharpness, not really. A camera with too dense a pixel spread and bad optics will be worse off than a lower MP camera with a better lens. Higher MP = more resolution.

Do you always do this?

I'm sorry, we'll just point him off to newegg and tell him to search for a transfer thingy to get the photos off his cards.

I have a 21MP 5D MKII and it's not a "bich" to copy the images to my computer, but if you'd like I'll let you keep on spreading inaccurate information.

 

[minooo]

MEGAPIXELS MEAN NOTHING! Only help for detail or crop.
I am scanning film in my minilab at 1.5 megapixels, and they're crystal clear. You can print them on A4/letter/20x30cm with no problem.

The quality of the pixels is important. Take a look at Sigma SD14 with Foveon sensor. It has only 4.7MP but in good light it crashes any other camera.
Or you could set the camera to shoot at 2 MP and you would beat any 10MP compact camera, right?
A phone nowadays often has 10MP but cannot compete with a DSLR. Lots of noise, low compression quality, color problems, contrast problems, too little pixels on the sensor, etc.

Of course that more resolution on a good sensor means more detail, but only that. Quality of the pixels is independent of the pixel number.
Also, quality in low light and high ISO needs larger pixel sensors, meaning less megapixels.

 

[LuckySe7en]

Card reader?



I'm betting $50 he meant drive space. A 21MP RAW file from a 5D MKII takes up about 20MB, IIRC. It's not bad if you have a storage solution set up to handle it.

Also, MP count does not eaqual sharpness, not really. A camera with too dense a pixel spread and bad optics will be worse off than a lower MP camera with a better lens. Higher MP = more resolution.

Do you always do this?

I'm sorry, we'll just point him off to newegg and tell him to search for a transfer thingy to get the photos off his cards.

I have a 21MP 5D MKII and it's not a "bich" to copy the images to my computer, but if you'd like I'll let you keep on spreading inaccurate information.

sounds like somebody needs to take a break from the internet. I highly doubt he's going to search for a "transfer thingy." Lighten up dude.

 

[sovietdoc]

Well megapixels may mean nothing, but when looking at panoramic shots from my friends D3s and my 5D3, at 100% crops D3s shots lack a lot of detail compared to 5D3. 5D3 lacks less detail in comparison to D800 than D3s in comparison to 5D3. So I'd say MP matter somewhat.

 

[Village Idiot]

Do you always do this?

I'm sorry, we'll just point him off to newegg and tell him to search for a transfer thingy to get the photos off his cards.

I have a 21MP 5D MKII and it's not a "bich" to copy the images to my computer, but if you'd like I'll let you keep on spreading inaccurate information.

sounds like somebody needs to take a break from the internet. I highly doubt he's going to search for a "transfer thingy." Lighten up dude.

You're the one that got offended because I decided to post, dude. If you used a paper word thingy every once in a while or an electronic information transfer thingy, you could probably post accurate information that didn't need correction.