The Megapixel Myth

[dhruvagupta 0]

<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-http://tecktalk.blogspot.de/

[bhavesh 0]

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 0]

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 0]

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 0]

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 0]

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 0]

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 0]

I always wondered about this. Thank You for confirming my suspicions. Although I am no camera expert I know thatthe 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 0]

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

[anachro 0]

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?

[adriantc 0]

What you call "The Megapixel Myth" has two sides. One is what everybody talks about... CMOS and CCD sensors with their advantages and disadvatages. CMOS for being cheaper and smaller and CCD for quality.

But there is a second part to this myth, a part which a lot of people ignore and it covered up (just like in the first case) by marketing policies. It's not only the type and number of megapixels that matters in picture quality but also the size of the lens and of the sensor itself. In practice that means a 7 megapixel SLR will do a lot better then a normal (more smaller) 10 megapixel camera. Why that happens? Here are the two main reasons:

1. On a SLR camera size is not a big issue (since it is build for professional or semi-profesional use people using those cameras don't care that much for size in relation to the quality of the pictures it takes). That means you can have a larger sensor size. Why is that important? Because if the same amount of pixels (or more) are crowded onto a smaller surface every pixel will receive a smaller amount of light. It may be 10 megapixels but it will look just a 7 megapixel or even worse.

2. The size of the lens is also really important. A larger lens means sharper images as more light gets to the sensor.

So next time you go shopping for a new digital camera don't look only at the price and number of megapixels that the camera has, but also the way it is built. A golden rule when it comes to digital camers: SMALLER SIZE MEANS LOWER QUALITY!

 

PS: I have a Sony video camera that has 3 megapixels for still images (I am satisfied with the quality and the fact that I don't have to carry another digital camera with me) and a HP (somewhat older then the video camera) 3,3 megapixel digital camera. The video camera (!?!) takes much better pictures then the digital camera. It wasn't designed for still images, but it has the great advantage of sensor size... while the HP has 2-2,5cm lens the Sony has 4-4,5. That proves it isn't all about the number of megapixels!

 

Here is a small quote for Wikipedia that gives the same explination I did:

There is a connection between sensor size and image quality; in general, a larger sensor provides lower noise, higher sensitivity, and increased latitude and dynamic range. There is also a connection between sensor size and depth of field, with the larger sensor resulting in shallower depth of field.

Edited January 25, 2008 by adriantc (see edit history)

[Becca 0]

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.

[gaspe86 0]

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

[jespert 0]

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.

[mm22 0]

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 hardwaresure 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...