Pre digital days, please shed some light for me

[jrista]

The word "megapixel" was a god send to the camera makers. It was a way that they could easily show people, 4MP is better than 2MP. ...and people would buy new cameras solely based on that.

In the film days, I think technology reached a plateau. Look at the flagship Canon EOS 1v HS. 10FPS and 45 AF points. ...and that was in the year 2000.

What has canon really improved in? Sensors. We still are around 10FPS and 45 AF points. in 12 years?

oh and...

...everyone knows that once a new camera is released, the previous model is rendered useless and unable to produce usable images.

The past couple of generations have been trained to consume, consume, consume.

Actually, we are at 12/14fps and 61 AF points. AF sensors are also sensitive to far less light than they used to be, down to EV -2 in Canon 1D and Nikon Dx models. We have far more high precision cross type points, and Canon is the first to offer double cross type points for even more AF precision and speed. Dynamic range has improved from maybe 5-7 stops in 2000 to around 12 stops or more today. Pixel densities have increased with a concurrent improvement in IQ. We've gone from around 4 megapixels in 2001 to 20 megapixels or more today. We've gone from a max native ISO 1600, to a max native ISO 51200 (thats a full FIVE STOPS, or 32 times as much light sensitivity!), with maximum ISO settings of today offering better IQ than the max ISO settings from a decade ago. Today, people are happily asking for fewer megapixels and better IQ from the megapixels they have (hence the 18mp 1D X and 22mp 5D III...both of which maintained the megapixel status quo while improving IQ...in the case of the 1D X by a very considerable degree.)

Its incredibly naive to say we've made no progress in the last 12 years. We've made tremendous progress. The type of images we can capture today outpace anything in history, including film (and yes, even LF film with 300dpi drum scans...you get "large" images with that, but IQ...although excellent, no longer holds up to the likes of what you can get from a modern full-frame sensor, particularly the D800's Exmor sensor...there is a lack of deep contrast and still that grain that is entirely absent from a modern high-res digital sensor). We have made phenomenal progress in the last decade plus.