Attached Link: Sharp

When do we say enough is enough? :glare: Thoughts on this folks? I'm with the reviewer in saying we are just going to get noisier images with little gains in resolution.

its just an advertising ploy... ask any non-serious camera user about cameras or for a comparison between them (in the digital sense) they are going to ask "So how many MP does yours have?"

 i'd love to see what they have to say in response to me saying my cam has 8MP which cost £500 more than the equivalent in compact. Probably something along the lines of "HA! mine is as good as yours!"

So yeah - they can now boast in their advertising to the uneducated masses: "The highest Megapixel compact camera in the world!"

meh...

Well one thing is for sure the higher the resolution the more critical are the optics I wonder if the optics have been upgraded as well somehow I doubt it  I have found the images on my 5D SLR are more critical of the lens in use   .... The main advantage of the compact is ease of use and easy to carry around when you get to competing with the SLR with prices coming down they are either barking up the wrong tree, or being creative in finding new markets

I know what they are trying to do, but any serious camera user will see through this I hope. Who could want such a large file anyway...it slows everything down. I suppose if you NEED a large image AND portability, this would be the solution. But what about quality...?

...and the ones that are illiterate to technology might get a 12 gig memcard and not get a extremely fast card reader. When I tell people in my community that I'm planing on getting a 8.2MP camera for about $1200 CAD (the 30D, yes I'm still saving up for one as well as a good lens) they tell me that they saw a 10 MP camera for $500 like I'm that dumb. (I give tham a lecture about it but they never get, oh well).:blink:

The other issue of course is the fact that a CCD sensor that is 3.5mmx5.5mm and lets say 6.1MP isn';t going to come even remotely close to the quality of an image from a CCD 36x24mm at 6.1MP (Can't remember exactly what 35mm dimensions are).

From what I understand, this is usually where the vast majority of the increase in price comes from. That and of course the additional features that you get with a prosumer or pro camera.

Wayne

 

And in actual printed dimensions, 12MP doesn't give much size over 10MP anyway. It's a shame they aren't just concentrating on making the overall image quality better.

I could not agree more. Personaly, for the higher end prosumers, I think 8MP is perfect. My C8080 can capture some nice clean images -- just not at higher ISOs. Today, even the lower ISOs are plagued with noise, because they have to make things more sensitive when cramming in more pixels...

For the average consumer...more MP means better.  The manufacturers also know this...so they are taking advantage of this marketing opportunity...can't blame them....

That being said, advancements in noise attentuation are being made with each generation of sensor design.

I think Danny has really hit on a critical component, that being optic quality.  It appears that currently we have reached the optical limit to resolve all those megapixels...so...much more (expensive) work will need to be done in this area.

BTW...I wonder how many camera buyers are aware that many camera lenses are made of plastic?

Attached Link: "compact" lenses are getting a bit bigger

There's a couple of trends that may be making use of the extra megapixels. One is the increased in-camera processing, things like face recognition and image stabilisation that are being made available, even on "low end" compacts. Two, the "compact" lenses are getting a little bit bigger! see link above. More importantly we may, at last, have enough data to make use of that digital zoom! :laugh:

I am not sure what you mean by compact lenses getting bigger...you mean more zoom range? The Oly SP-550 UZ has the best so far, though Panasonic is a leader in compact zoom cameras as well. Digital zoom will never be a good thing unless they come up with some new trick. Better to bring the image into Photoshop and upsize it there, or with a fractal program. Now Gradient has got me wondering which of my cameras has a plastic lens! ;']

I'm glad to see not everyone falls under the MAXIMUM MEGAPIXEL MADNESS sales hype. I agree that lens quality is paramount for picture quality, it always has been! If you don't have good optics you can not take a good photo, period. Aside from quality optics important areas to look for in a digital camera are: speed of autofocus, accuracy of focus, physical manual focus, color rendition and the big one most overlooked after lens quality - lag time! Compact digitals are prone to high lag times, resulting in missed shots. This being said not all compacts are bad. You just have to test before you buy. If your shop doesn't allow this then buy eleswhere. The main reason to try first is most retailers are very strict concerning returns of electronics. 
Pentax has a compact that even surpasses some of the highend digitals in the area of color resolution. I have an Olympus XA film compact that is about the size of a cigarette pack that has the best lens quality of any camera I own except for an old bellows style camera with a Leica lens.
Anyway as with any product ignore the hyperbole and examine the item in context of your personal needs.

What camera is that? I have the Pentax Optio S5i, and I have to say it's color resolution is not the best. Good points tping.

To: Radlafx

I have used the 30D and I had no complaints at all about it's functionality. I am sure you will be very pleased when you get it!

Many of Cannon's EF lenses for film cameras are suitable for use with the 30D and can be purchased for a reasonable amount on the used market. The main drawback to Cannon's mid to lower price range lenses is the amount of focal fall-off. With awareness of this factor and it's magnitude in your particular lens you can frame to compensate and get quite acceptable quality. I don't remember what the size of the CCD array is in the 30D but if it is smaller than standard 35mm film then your film lens focal length will actual be extended in proportion - a 200mm film lens might end up with an actual value of say 220mm when used on the digital body. The scaling factor equivalency is available from Cannon. 

Attached Link: http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/tech/l_plant/f_index.html

Heres how my lens the EF 500 is put together.

Click on  Please visit the virtual lens Plant then Lens Assembly Process..

Interesting.

I can see why they aren't cheap. Very interesting link Jim.

I can see why they aren't cheap.

Paid  £4,500  UK!
Still holds the price...approx.

Cannon's high-end lenses, like the EF500 mentioned by Nameless_Wildness, don't suffer from the quality issues  of the mid to lower price lenses I mentioned in a previous post. A great many wildlife and sport photographers use the EF USM lenses in 600mm and up. The high end lenses are fast, quiet, and about the price of a decent car. Next time you watch a sporting event  check out the photographers, chances are that's a Cannon lens mounted on the monopod.
As Nameless_Wildness pointed out they do hold their value, better than most products you buy.

EF USM lenses in 600mm and up

Believe thats the 1200mm 5.6!!!

Yep, that's the one that will drain the children's college fund! The EF USM's below the 1200mm are pretty high also. Have you tried the macro with built in ring light? If you are interested in macro photography it will tempt greatly. As noted Cannon high end lenses are very good.

Have you tried the macro with built in ring light?

Must be a new one on me!!...I do know of the MACRO RING LITE MR-14EX and the MR-24 EX series!!..which I own the RING LITE MR-14EX :)

Attached Link: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/

here a link that may help to pick a camera for size. I like one big so I can print big images. I saw what a 6foot x6foot film camera can do. The grass a halve mile away is sharp. I saw what the gigibit digital camera can do too. You can crop a little square in the image and it shows up clear. Plus it not compack like a telephoto lens would do. Be nice to take a photo of a bird 500 yards away and it comes out shap and with all the details with out the telephoto look to it.  Guess that my dream. Yes it be slow but so what . If you got the image you dream of it worth it

Or find a bug on the image that is on a tree 100 yards way and you can crop it  in a small image and the bug will look like it right there next to you with out the telephoto look to it.; but will look like a mirco shot of the bug.
 dream a little and you see what big can do for you

Love to have those cameras that the space people have. !00 miles up and make out rocks the size of soft balls size on Mars. or read the new paper you reading here on earth.