The Megapixel Myth

A little introduction is required to what influenced me to write a blog as this one which is more technically oriented than marketing oriented; but then we need to have a grasp of the technology that we are marketing, isn't it? My friend Gincy and I were going through some photos of Manali on her laptop when she pointed out how having a camera with a higher pixel would make a huge difference in the quality of photos(2-3MP vis-a`-vis 8MP), to which I disagreed saying that a pixel was not the only Saggi (thats me..) broke into our usual session of arguing (a healthy one!) with none forsaking our stand (cant help it, its in our signs!). Hence, I resorted to resolve the matter by turning to my dear Google for help (thank you Brin & Page) and well the blog is a result of it. What you are about to read is a collection of facts I have selected from a Times of India article on the Megapixel Myth & the 'ars technia' site. The Mega pixel myth is definitely one of the finest & convincingly woven one from the Marketeers which makes me often think as to what if each had the Pinocchio curse on them :-)

Go Gincy Go..........Take A Shot!

Mega pixels are the digital camera market's equivalent of horsepower and megahertz—a single metric that consumers and marketers latch on to tenaciously, despite the fact that it hardly describes overall performance. Over the last several years, camera manufacturers have been pumping up the megapixels on each successive camera model, regardless of whether such increases offered any real benefits (hint: they usually did not).

Millions of dollars spent by companies on advertising the ‘megapixel myth’ have brainwashed many. The fact is megapixels have nothing to do with image quality. Cramming more megapixels into a smaller image sensor can even lead to reduced picture quality. Throwing more megapixels at the digital imaging problem is akin to bumping up the processor speed on a motherboard with a slow bus and small amounts of RAM, or adding a turbo to a small engine on a car with lousy brakes and wobbly suspension. The number of megapixels in a camera's image sensor is just one in a number of aspects that truly define how well a camera works.

With cams available in 1.3 to 12 megapixel resolution, what do you pick? For high-quality prints sized 8”x 10” or more, you need a camera with at least 3 megapixel resolution. Getting close to your subject is a secret of great photos. But what’s this optical/digital zoom stuff? Optical zoom is the magnification within the lens itself when you zoom in/out. Make sure the camera has powerful optical zoom capability. Digital zoom doesn’t change focal length. Instead, as you zoom in, a smaller and smaller portion of the digital sensor is used to record the subject. This lowers the number of pixels.

The truth is, though, that 6MP is enough to make a very nice 8 x 10" print in fact, 8 x 10" prints from early 3MP DSLRs is possible. More pixels can mean larger prints or more room for cropping. But who's making larger prints, other than professionals? When was the last time we took photos with the 3MP Nokia mob-cam or with the Sony Cybershot & took printouts of them to paste in the album? Even a I write about it I get a nostalgic feeling as I remember the old Kodak I loved so much and the stacks of tiny albums I have stored up in my old suitcase. I might like to go back to making albums for different occasions, but stung by convenience & the practicality imposed upon me by technological advancements, I know I would end up burning the photos onto a CD/DVD. Huh! Maybe a couple of years down the lane if I might chance upon reading the same blog again, I might cringe upon seeing the mention of CD/DVD & would think as to why didn't I pen down Blue Ray instead.

Now with compact cameras offering up to 24x zoom ranges, exactly how much cropping would someone need?

Keep in mind that with the increase in megapixels comes a resulting increase in file size. So shooting hundreds or even thousands of 12MP images means larger memory cards, more space eaten up on hard drives, and more time sorting and editing—all for images that are likely to end up viewed at no larger than 800 x 600px... or about half a megapixel.

Beyond megapixels

Digital SLRs have enjoyed a recent uptick in popularity

Along with the number of megapixels in a sensor, other factors affect the image quality of a camera. The dynamic range, or the range of tones the sensor is able to reproduce, is a rather important one. A high-pixel-density sensor's ability to perform well in low light, which we mentioned above, is another. But beyond the sensor itself, the two other major factors that come into play are the on-board image processing hardware and the camera's lens. This is one reason SLRs have had a resurrection of sorts lately: DSLRs offer better lenses, larger sensors, and often better image processing.

So, manufacturers are starting to focus more on features like wider or longer zooms, higher-quality lenses, low-light performance, dynamic range, and high-def video capabilities. We've already seen a pretty significant competition between Nikon and Canon for the high-ISO crown this past year or so, and the improvements gleaned from high-end DSLR designs are trickling down to compact cameras. Further, Fuji has recently begun focusing marketing on dynamic range with its new EXR sensor technology. And some compacts, such as recent Pentax and Canon superzoom models, as well as DSLRs, like the Canon EOS 5DmkII or Nikon's D90, have already begun to exploit digital sensors to capture HD video.

Though focusing solely on the number of megapixels made marketing and buying digital cameras easier, it seems that we are at a major turning point in the direction of further developments in digital camera technology. Much like cars have shifted from horsepower to safety and efficiency, and computers have shifted from mega- (and giga-) hertz to multiple cores and... well, efficiency, digital cameras will shift toward other aspects that reflect the "bigger picture" of a camera's performance.