Mega Mega Bazillion Pixels!

Camera manufacturers are running the megapixel and goofy features race. Sony leads the pack with it's 24 megapixel Alpha A-850 and the older Alpha A-900. Most other DSLRs come in 10 to 14 megapixels.
Ok, so how many megapixels do I need?
That depends on what you do with your pictures. If you just use them to show on the web and to make small prints up to 8 X 10 inches, then 6 megapixels are more than enough.
For prints up to 11 X 14 inches, 8 megapixels will do you just fine.
Now in my 40+ years of photography I have made exactly 2 20 X 30 inch prints, and for that you need 10 megapixels.
The rest of the megapixels are wasted or are reserved for bragging rights.


UNLESS!
Unless you are a crop whore like me, who is never satisfied with the images as they come out of the camera. I always find room for improvement with a bit of  judicious cropping.
Toss half a picture of a 12 megapixel camera and you are down to 6 megapixels, which to tell the truth, is still more than enough for most purposes since you can get a great 8 X 10 from that.
How much wall space do you have?
My walls are all filled up with 8 X 10 and 11 X 14 inch images plus two I made into 20 X 30 inch beauties.
Oh, those two were not even photographed with a DSLR! I used my 10 megapixel Sony R1 for those.
As with most photography issues, the truth is not that easy to arrive at because it depends on what the photographer does with  the images.
Some folks claim that all you ever need is 3 megapixels. I find that claim to be a bit extreme unless you never crop and never want to make a beautiful 8 X 10 inch print. You can make an average 8 X 10 but not an excellent  one.
I am perfectly happy with 12 to 14 megapixels because that gives me room to crop and the ability to produce a beautiful and huge print.


Now as far as goofy features go, let me just state that most people don't need a DSLR at all. You can produce gorgeous landscape, flower and portrait images with a $400 point and shoot. Really.


For action shooting and low light photography you will do far better with a DSLR.
The Canon PowerShot S90 10MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3-inch LCD is a great little camera that won't set your credit card on fire and does produce really excellent results. In the hands of a good photographer, this little camera can compete with any DX or even FX DSLR when it comes to static, no action, fine light shooting.

In camera features, I need A mode (aperture priority) and P mode. That's all. I never use any of the other distractors such as landscape, portrait, blah, blah blah modes. I don't need them.
When I'm lazy or paranoid about missing a shot I will go to P, grab a view images that way and then go back to A mode.
Aperture priority will force you to stop and think a bit before you snap that picture.
More on that later.
Oh yeah, for my glamour and pinup photography I go to M for manual mode because it's simpler to work with my strobes that way.

Thanks for looking and clicking!



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