I don't understand all of the opinions that 21mp is as much or more than you'd ever want. I'm not saying that action photographers necessarily need 45mp+ this instant (there's a big gap between 21 and 45), but "the current standard is good enough, it doesn't need to improve" is not how technology works. I can't help but think of the old "640K ought to be enough for anybody" quote.
I'm sure there are some photographers out there that take huge numbers of images and are constantly filling their storage medium, or rely on real-time WiFi transfer of a large number of images and that are really being bottlenecked by file size, but as we move into the future, all of our technology should continue to improve, and that includes image quality. (And yes, I realize that higher resolution is not all there is to better image quality, but it's definitely part of it. And yes, I reject the idea that lower resolution means inherently better low light performance). Even for those photographers, scaling down to ~20mpx is likely to produce equally good if not better results than using a 20mpx sensor, similar to the R5's high quality 4K video, which scales down from 8K and produces exceptional image quality.
The 1DX range is a very specific tool for a specific groupof buyers. It's not intended to be a general "Pro / Semi Pro / Very serious Enthusiast" camera. It's designed to scratch the itch of photojournaists and ports photographers...ie press photographers. That's the market that drives that camera. Back in the day, the 1D was available in 2 guises...slow fps and highest MP that curent tech would allow and the other camera was a highest frame rate that current tech would allow and low MP. The former was full frame and the latter was a 1.3x crop. Canon consolidated these two cameras into the 1DX. They then upspecced the 5D series (5D3) to a pro spec and offered that as their general use "Pro / Semi Pro / Very serious Enthusiast" camera. The 5D3 and 4 are the most versatile digital cameras available and in the hands of more pro photographers than all off the other cameras in the world put together...and that's not including the videographers too.
Every time Canon hand a prototype 1Dx series camera into the hands of a press photographer...the resounding reply is WE DON't WANT MORE THAT 20mp!!! Sure more fps...any other feature...but limit the res so we can do our jobs quickly and effectively. Maybe this will change when we all drive electric cars with Wifi 2.0 / 5.5G enabled and venues can source super wide data paths over their wifi....but until then, there is a functional limit of 20mp for these venues. It's a case of the business need is stipulating the technology. Super High MP Pro series cameras don't actually sell that well. Look at the 5DSR's sales figures. No where near as strong at the 5D3 or 5D4.
As a landscape photographer, good and sharp rendered images from a 5D3 are more than sufficient. I'm able to exstract fantastic detail at 100% with my 22ish mp sensor with a tripod and carefull technique. Blow up sizes for me (A0 max) is more than suffient. For my wedding work where I need to turn around images fast, 22ish MP is again more than suffient. A typical wedding can yield 4000 source images. A 15 hour shoot is common for me and using 2 photographers (myself and a 2nd) that's actually quite a low click per minute rate. From these 4000 images I have to import them into Light room...arrange the camera / stoot time to be the same betten multiple cards on 4-5 cameras. Then I need to select my 250 delivered images and post process them. I generallt have less than a week to do this while fitting in the rest of my photographic and domestic life and it's quite possible in peak season for me to shoot 3-4 weedings in a week. So processing / workflow / delivery times / storage / cataloging as all important business factors. For me, 24mp is ideal, 32mp is slightly more than I need and 50mp is just a pointless waste that will just much up precious Hard Disk space and Light Room processing time.
But that's just me...however, I am not unique in this and your milage might vary.
Upvote
0