POLL: How many mp do you want anyway?

If given the choice, I'd like...

  • Total voters
    295
  • Poll closed .
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#21
I shoot a D800 and was very skeptical about "needing" 36mp at first, but I think it's a lot like cars - if you drive a Civic you probably can't, or don't want to, imagine needing 400hp, but after you drive a faster car for a few years, you find it hard to imagine getting around without that extra "emergency" horsepower. Likewise, those 36mp that seemed excessive to me at first, have saved more than a few shots for me with the ability to crop heavily yet retain a printable image. That and the detail in landscapes I've printed as large 30" x 40" is absolutely amazing. I would never go back to a lower mp primary camera.

I will say that file size is an issue even at 36mp, even with lossless compressed. Hard drives may be cheap, but if you're shooting at these mp, plan on buying a few of them. And multi-image Photoshop composites? Get used to .PSB files.

I think 36mp is enough, but would not turn down 50mp, and I'm sure it's coming to Nikon as well as to Canon, but I'm not sure I would see much improvement at my largest print size, or crop requirements. It would have to come with other performance improvements, notably FPS, DR and high ISO IQ before I would upgrade.
 
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#22
When I would scan my Velvia on a good film scanner I would get files that are about 30 MP in size. I have always felt that was about the best that I could get out of the my film with a 35mm slide. Still, modern lenses can out resolve my best film age lenses, so I would love to see what the files would look like from a 50 MP sensor.
 
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#23
I voted MORE, I still want more!

I won't be happy until at least 250 Mpixels. I need more detail for pictures of cats and squirrels to post on facebook.....

Seriously though, my first DSLR had 4.9Mpixels, 3 AF points, and went all the way up to ISO800.... It doesn't matter what camera you get now, they are all great.
 
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#24
I have a problem voting, because I can see the value of THREE different possibilities:
20 - 24 MP all-around camera (5D4/1DX2 for FF, 7D2 for crop)
12 - 15 MP low-light king (currently exemplified by the Sony A7s, the astrophotography choice for those who shoot using consumer full color cameras (as opposed to monochrome CCD cameras with filter wheels)
36 - 50 MP studio/ landscape king.

What I would REALLY like would be a full frame Foveon sensor of the Merrill type (not Quattro), same pixel density as current APS-C Merrills WITH PRO-GRADE SOFTWARE, not the current buggy, annoying, Sigma Photo Pro software. Attach this to a mirrorless with good live view, provide functional adapters with pass-through of aperture and focus info/commands to/from EF lenses. Add an electronic (mini-plug or pins) shutter release port for remote release (can you believe that the Sigma Merrills didn't have this?). Voila, a really great landscape camera, to be used at ISO 100-400 on tripod. The color subtlety and microcontrast on the existing Merrills is really something to behold. This may never come to pass with adapters to EF mount lenses due to the basic technical premise of the sensor, unfriendly to light coming from an angle (wide angle lens designs for EF).
 
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#28
Marsu42 said:
ajfotofilmagem said:
If many here want 36 megapixel, why D800, D810, A7r are not big sales successes? ::) :-X
Click to expand...

I imagine the d800/d810 *are* a big success, so much that people wishing for more resolution and dynamic range have dumped Canon for good and thus don't show up over here anymore. Those who could wait for 3+ years for more resolution are either die-hard Canon fanbois or don't really "need" it.
Click to expand...

+1 I've had my d800s since they first shipped, thoroughly pleased with them. And I will happily continue shooting with them for years to come, they provide perfectly suitable performance for my large format output. But I didn't originally get them to get more MP, I got them to get better pixels. I was grossly disappointed with noisy raw files since I got a 7D and 5D2.

AcutancePhotography said:
I think there is an optimal number of megapixels. I think that is between 25 and 30.

It is not the number of megapixels, but the quality of each pixel. :)
Click to expand...

Once I started printing images larger, it wasn't so much the lack of pixels, it was the noisy raw files that were limiting.

I can mangle my ABC camera's raw files much more than I could when I shot Canon, that gives me a lot more artistic latitude without having to be a photoshop pro.

LarryC said:
I shoot a D800 and was very skeptical about "needing" 36mp at first, but I think it's a lot like cars - if you drive a Civic you probably can't, or don't want to, imagine needing 400hp, but after you drive a faster car for a few years, you find it hard to imagine getting around without that extra "emergency" horsepower. Likewise, those 36mp that seemed excessive to me at first, have saved more than a few shots for me with the ability to crop heavily yet retain a printable image. That and the detail in landscapes I've printed as large 30" x 40" is absolutely amazing. I would never go back to a lower mp primary camera.

I will say that file size is an issue even at 36mp, even with lossless compressed. Hard drives may be cheap, but if you're shooting at these mp, plan on buying a few of them. And multi-image Photoshop composites? Get used to .PSB files.

I think 36mp is enough, but would not turn down 50mp, and I'm sure it's coming to Nikon as well as to Canon, but I'm not sure I would see much improvement at my largest print size, or crop requirements. It would have to come with other performance improvements, notably FPS, DR and high ISO IQ before I would upgrade.
Click to expand...

Yup, I'm very happy having more MP than I ever had with Canon gear. AND, they are BETTER quality pixels than I had with Canon within the ISO ranges I need to work, and that's up to 3200 w no problem with the best and biggest improvements at base and low ISO where I do most of my shooting.

if canon puts out a new body, with more MP, and hopefully better raw file noise characteristics than they've had since they came out with Digic 4 and newer, then maybe some die-hard canon fans will discover what they've missed out on for the past few years. But that's only if you're pixel peeping, AKA, printing large.
 
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#32
My current 18 / 20Mpx set up seems to be doing just fine though I wouldn't mind a tad more on my FF for when I crop images in post so that I have enough resolution left over for a nice high quality large print. So maybe 22 to 24Mpx would be perfect. I guess I should just work on my technique and frame better! ;)
 
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#33
I voted for 18. My files from my 7D are from 22 - 28.5 MB files. It's enough work for me to reduce the size down from
raw to jpeg to email my pics to friends. Maybe Canon can design the 20.2 megabyte sensors to work flawlessly on FF
as well as crop because the 18 mb sensor is so disliked by many people.
 
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#34
I'd like to see enough pixels, or a better alternative to Bayer filter grids that eliminate the need for low-pass filters and post-processing to remove moiré and aliasing artifacts. Maybe something along the lines of Foveon's X3, though that sensor doesn't do well at higher ISOs. Anyway, it seems silly to pay for high pixel counts then degrade the image detail with a low-pass filter.
 
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#35
I selected 36 because I wanted more than my current 5d3 provides.

In all honesty, I really only want a modest amount more. I just want to be able to routinely print 13x19 at 300dpi without enlarging. In all honesty, 36 is probably more than I really need. I'm guessing the 5d4 will be on the money with the slight MP increase. 50 megapixels would be awesome if I wanted to really print big, but I don't currently have a need for quite that many pixels. I'm sure others do though.
 
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#36
Mitch.Conner said:
I selected 36 because I wanted more than my current 5d3 provides.

In all honesty, I really only want a modest amount more. I just want to be able to routinely print 13x19 at 300dpi without enlarging. In all honesty, 36 is probably more than I really need. I'm guessing the 5d4 will be on the money with the slight MP increase. 50 megapixels would be awesome if I wanted to really print big, but I don't currently have a need for quite that many pixels. I'm sure others do though.
Click to expand...

5D4 is not going to be even close to 50MP, I'd be surprised if it goes even above 30.

Reason: 5DS already exists so 5D4 should compete on the other aspects like high-ISO and fps. Both of those get hit if you increase pixel count -> 5D4 will not have high pixel count.
 
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#38
IMO it all depends on the pictures you make. Fashion-wise it has quite to offer. Although it all depends on the price tag.

After all the Pentax 645Z with its $8500 is a good rival and most importantly with its 200k ISO and its 51.4MP Medium Format APS-C CMOS sensor is quite the rival.

In the end aside from the price the little things will be the arguments to decide.
Factors like:

  • focus speed and usability
  • FPS
  • image quality
  • number of memory slots

After all this also very hard to compare due to the glass as well. But I am very more excited about this little monster and its MPs than for the 5Ds FF pixels.

Back to the question: IMO yes 50 MPs are a sweet deal even if used seldomly but ONLY if in bundle with sensitivity and other regular features.
 
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#39
Tanispyre said:
When I would scan my Velvia on a good film scanner I would get files that are about 30 MP in size. I have always felt that was about the best that I could get out of the my film with a 35mm slide. Still, modern lenses can out resolve my best film age lenses, so I would love to see what the files would look like from a 50 MP sensor.
Click to expand...

How much of that 30 mp is emulsion grain ?
 
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