The more pixels the better?

[djspinnet]

Originally Posted by Chai

I think it's time for them to stop making higher MP sensors and concentrate on clean output, especially at higher sensitivity.

And less colour dithering problems

[Ishtim]

Originally Posted by djspinnet

And less colour dithering problems

Yup!

I think that pixel size and spacing are really important. Theoretically, an optical sensor would have to have negligible spacing between pixels that match the size of the material particles on the film. Next, the overall sensor size would need to be the same... as for sensitivity it will become a must (especially in more temporate climates) to employ some type of sensor cooling (i.e.. peltier) to eliminate noise in both amplitude and RGB colour channels instead of color interpolation.

[sherwin]

I have a question.. say you have 2 cameras, one is a 6MP camera, and the other 4MP.

Both cameras are set to take pics at 4MP(including the 6MP cam).. now will both have the same quality or would the 6MP camera's picture taken at 4MP be better?

[Olle P]

Originally Posted by sherwin

... will both have the same quality or would the 6MP camera's picture taken at 4MP be better?

I'd say that if all other technical factors are equal between the cameras then the 6 MP camera will provide more true colours.

Typcally 50% of the sensor pixels (sp) are sensitive to green, and the other 50% are evenly divided between blue and red.
The camera do some averaging of nearby sps to provide a colour for each image pixel (ip), so the fewer ips you use the more sps provide information for each ip and thus a more realistic colour will be provided.

Cheers
Olle

[Chai]

A 4MP Nikon D2H will eat any consumer 6MP camera.

[goldfries]

Originally Posted by sherwin

I have a question.. say you have 2 cameras, one is a 6MP camera, and the other 4MP.

Both cameras are set to take pics at 4MP(including the 6MP cam).. now will both have the same quality or would the 6MP camera's picture taken at 4MP be better?

like what Chai said - so this depends on the capture quality.

see, the megapixels just indicate what image size you could capture, ie 2MP cameras do 1600x1200 pixel sized pictures, 6MP cameras do 2848 x 2136 sized pictures.

so that's just size

if you compare like <1MP camera on phones to actual <1MP digital cameras, you'll see the difference in picture capture quality.

[Ishtim]

Idont want to step on any toes.... but MP is really BS in terms of quality unless sensor size is held fixed. i.e. 4 MP over a 200mm sq. surface is TOTALLY different than 8MP over the same surface. If you would investigate the Kodak chips used in professional applications...it will be very clear!

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by Ishtim

Idont want to step on any toes.... but MP is really BS in terms of quality unless sensor size is held fixed. i.e. 4 MP over a 200mm sq. surface is TOTALLY different than 8MP over the same surface. If you would investigate the Kodak chips used in professional applications...it will be very clear!

Hmm.. I think you mean that if the sensor size remains the same, a higher MP sensor would not be able to deliver the same quality from a lower MP sensor?

[Ishtim]

Originally Posted by Adrian Wong

Hmm.. I think you mean that if the sensor size remains the same, a higher MP sensor would not be able to deliver the same quality from a lower MP sensor?

I guess I could have said pixel density...

typically, the more dense a given size sensor, the better quality.

[Chai]

You mean higher pixel density is better? I don't really agree, because that's what they are doing with those compact cameras with 8MP!