Digital Cameras - Megapixels

**Snapper** · 17-05-2005, 17:44

I read a number of very interesting articles recently about digital cameras, so I thought I would throw out an idea here for anyone looking to purchase one in advance of their summer holidays.

The headline measure of a digital camera is often how many megapixels it has. More megapixels equals a better image, right? Wrong!

With most point-and-shoot digital cameras the megapixels are arranged in a very small, typically less than a square inch, CCD device. On modern cameras this means the megapixels are packed in there at a rate of 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 or more per square millimeter. If the camera's lens is unable to resolve the image to this level of accuracy what happens is that the image 'bleeds' between adjacent megapixels. There won't be a visible loss of quality as the image quality is ultimately much more a function of the lens than of the camera itself. What it means is that some of those megapixels aren't adding anything to the image. They are redundant.

So when looking to buy a digital camera, it's worth focusing (pun intended!!) more on the optical performance of the lens rather than the headline number of megapixels. A 4mp camera with an excellent lens is going to way outperform a 6mp camera with a mediocre lens.

Does this mean it's worth going for a cheaper camera, with less megapixels?

Not really! Cameras are like most things in life and for the most part you get what you pay for. Buy paying for a good lens rather than paying for redundant megapixels is a good idea. When you talk lenses, if you hear the names Zeiss, Leica, Nikon or Canon you know you are on firm ground as these companies live or die by their reputations for optical performance.

In terms of taking good photographs, a good adage is that:
The photographer takes the photograph
The lens renders the image
The camera is only there to hold the film (megapixels) flat.

**LiesaAnna** · 17-05-2005, 17:49

steve your just to good to us! i have a kodak easyshare 3.2 and it serves its purpose for me, and we download (i think thats what you say) staright to the pc, its all i need, but i know you can tell the difference in quality

thanx Steve

**caroline** · 17-05-2005, 18:05

Steve, a question that's been on my mind for a while, I have a Nikon digital camers, the photos are fine on the computer but [xx(] when I want to print them - is this likely to be a problem with the printer? What printer would you recommend?

**Magical Dreams** · 18-05-2005, 03:37

Great advice Snapper!
As usual!

[msncool]

**Snapper** · 18-05-2005, 04:45

That's not an easy one to answer Caroline. I have an Epson Stylus Photo 870. The print quality is excellent but I hardly ever use it for photo printing. I've read that the R200s are also excellent. The good news is that these days there are some fantastic photo printers available and you don't have to spend huge amounts to get them.

The best advice I can offer is to look for printers that have more than 4 ink colours. Some will have CMY-K (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) while others will have 5 colours instead of the 3 CMY's. They slot in some lighter coloured inks to help create all the different colour shades. Personally I would avoid Lexmark as a brand because it's nigh on impossible to get non-genuine replacement ink cartridges for them. It makes a huge difference to your cost-per-page if you are using alternative inks at £2/cartridge instead of brand-name inks at £10 or £15. Whether these inks will subsequently fade over time I don't know.

When I've played around with mine it makes a huge difference when using the specialist photo papers. I've had some excellent results using Ilford Galerie (green box, 280gsm).

I tend not to print much myself. If I'm printing a print for anyone I'll more often send it off to Fuji/Pixology, although this is as much because I can't be doing with the faff of altering the printer settings for the glossy photo paper and then fiddling around for ages to get a decent print. Fuji do the job so much better and with way less bother.

I've found it really improves things if you auto-balance or auto-level the colours and/or contrast in an image before printing it. You'll also find that it looks way different when printed than when viewed on a PC monitor. You might also find that photos look way different even between different PCs. Whenever I look at something on my laptop it looks way different than when I view it on the other PC with a CRT type monitor.

**DaveL** · 18-05-2005, 07:31

If you want to do any serious printing then you need to invest in something like the ICC colour profile software.

You start with a know printed colour target, that comes with the software, which you scan, you also print the colour target which you scan again. You also need to put a colour measure on your laptop and monitor. Once you have done all this then any colour will be the same where ever you view or print it.

If you want to be really precise then you should do this in a room which blinds pulled so that the viewing light always remains constant.

Given that Jessops will print 50 7"x5" photos for about eight pounds you need to be really serious to do your own printing of smaller sized photos.

Dave

**caroline** · 18-05-2005, 10:59

Thanks Steve and Dave.
We've got an Epson Stylus Photo 875DC - to be honest I've never bothered getting any of our digital photos printed, other than printing them myself.
So I think I'll send them off for printing in future.
Has anybody tried the machines in Boots where you insert your memory card and DIY?

**steph_goodrum** · 18-05-2005, 11:07

Caroline
I've not tried the machines in Boots but nearly always get my prints done there, they usually have an off of 50 prints for £5 and the cd is sometimes free, sometimes 99p but it it's full price its £2.50.
By the time I buy paper and ink I figure it would cost me more than that to print them (not to mention the time).

**LiesaAnna** · 18-05-2005, 11:37

i have used the ones in Asda and at walmart and the quality if you get the kodak machines are brilliant!!!
and the prices these places charge for printing is so cheap

i lost some photos of my neices wedding in march and was devastated (well my son used the memory card for the mp3 player and wiped them) and i contacted jessops for help! they couldnt do enough to help me!!! ordered a product called image recall which found them all and i got them printed 50 pictures with CD 7x5 £6.99 i didnt think that was bad at all!

such a helpful company, i couldnt get the image recall working on my pc so went back to them and they did it all for no charge!!