Goood news for digital camera users

T

Tuolumne

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Looks like the industry has finally realized that the MegaPixel race is over and it's time to concentrate on improving other parameters:

LAS VEGAS--Olympus has declared an end to the megapixel race.
"Twelve megapixels is, I think, enough for covering most applications most customers need," said Akira Watanabe, manager of Olympus Imaging's SLR planning department, in an interview here at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA). "We have no intention to compete in the megapixel wars for E-System," Olympus' line of SLR cameras, he said.
Instead, Olympus will focus on other characteristics such as dynamic range, color reproduction, and a better ISO range for low-light shooting, he said.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-10189546-39.html?tag=nl.e703

/T
 
Finally some common sense. I think image sizes are big enough. And if not, there's the medium format digital market. More than once I've had an editor tell me my image files are too big.

Resolution is fine at 12MP. I use a 7MP camera professionally. Nobody cares. Light sensitivity, digital noise, and dynamic range are the only image quality issues I have.
 
But the problem is that many misguided people think that more mega pixels is all that matters. Olympus still have to compete for market share and as long as other manufacturers continue to squeeze more MP on their sensors, Olympus will surely lose out?
 
For years I've written thaqt 5-6 MP is plenty of megapis for most people. For Flickr, email and websites even this is overkill. For a pro 10-12 works for most magazines and stock agencies.

Hawkeye
 
chris000 said:
But the problem is that many misguided people think that more mega pixels is all that matters. Olympus still have to compete for market share and as long as other manufacturers continue to squeeze more MP on their sensors, Olympus will surely lose out?
Click to expand...

Yes, another problem is that the big manufacturers have already been working on those other things (better high ISO performance, color reproduction).

Looks Rip Van has just woken up.
 
I think that 6 good megapixels in a APS-C format sensor are quite enough for most things. I'm quite pleased with my Pentax *ist DS, dating from 2004. Still works great. I've had photos taken with that camera published as magazine covers - can't tell me that's not sufficient.

On the other hand, the newer dSLR cameras offer more megapixels, which I do not care about, but new features, which I do. So to get the anti-shake, the higher dynamic range, and better high-ISO response, I have no choice but to end up with a camera that boasts more megapixels.

Additionally, more megapixels (all things being equal) means more room to crop, which can be a good thing. So there is that consideration.

However, as noted - marketing rules. If Olympus decides 'no mas' and others decide 'si, mas', and the public responds to that, then Olympus is being wise from a photography basis but stupid from a sales basis. Which matters? Money matters. And consumers are mainly booger-eatin' morons. They will buy more megapixels every time.

So Oly's argument, while valid, may be moot. We'll see.
 
We can only hope others follow suit and shift emphasis to other aspects of IQ and camera performance.
I think certainly it will happen eventually. Even the average "booger eating moron" may come to realize that 20+ mega means huge freakin' files and all the challenges of dealing with them.
 
For the present level of sensor technology I think the statement from Olympus is correct especially for sensors smaller than FX. There is still some room for more mega pixels in FX but the trade off is higher noise so even in FX it seems a good balance for most users if you are not cropping heavily. If this logic flies with the average consumer is another thing entirely.

Bob
 
dazedgonebye said:
We can only hope others follow suit and shift emphasis to other aspects of IQ and camera performance.
I think certainly it will happen eventually. Even the average "booger eating moron" may come to realize that 20+ mega means huge freakin' files and all the challenges of dealing with them.
Click to expand...

BEMs will always be BEMs. Sales and Marketing types will always hype whatever advantages that their brand appears to have over others. If Oly drops out of the megapixel wars, any company that can still pump up the pixels will tout that as an advantage over Oly, whether is is or not, and Oly will suffer. Because people are stupid - and always will be. Never count on them to make the smart choice.
 
Nikon Bob said:
For the present level of sensor technology I think the statement from Olympus is correct especially for sensors smaller than FX. There is still some room for more mega pixels in FX but the trade off is higher noise so even in FX it seems a good balance for most users if you are not cropping heavily. If this logic flies with the average consumer is another thing entirely.

Bob
Click to expand...

It will fly with the consumer when the manufacturers want it to fly.
When Canon and Nikon are ready to say "no more" they will tout the other benefits of their systems and downplay the pixels.
Any time now would be fine with me.
 
I'm not a big digi user, but am more than pleased with the results I get with my Nikon D-40.

It seems we've finally gotten away from the "more gigahertz is better" regarding computer processors, maybe we can get way from the "more megapixels is better" with digital cameras.

Jim B.
 
Still shooting my 4.1 mpx Canon 1D for lots of things. My aging 'puter loves me for it. The RAW files just fly through DPP. Don't really care what the less-informed consumers do because it keeps the used, older generation gear's pricing down. Which works for an old bottom-feeder like me.
 
Actually similar statements came from other manufacturers during Photokina already, so Olympus doesn’t set a precedent here, they follow suit.
Manufacturers simply realized that smart consumers started making enough noise (on the internet) that even dumbo megapixel chasing ones started to take note.
It’s not really manufacturers’ goal to stuff more megapixels into a sensor, they were doing so to please the misguided consumers to whom, as mentioned above, amount of megapixels dictated the quality of the camera. They’re only happy that the market is finally realizing that MP is not everything. They can now all fight over other “useful” features, like blink-detection 🙂
 
Sounds like Olympus is throwing the towel because they know that 12 megapixles for their 4/3 sensor size and technology is already starting to push it. Now if they had some of the tech going on at Canon and Nikon that might be another story but they are still a ways away from matching them in the image quality department.
 
MCTuomey said:
Don't really care what the less-informed consumers do because it keeps the used, older generation gear's pricing down. Which works for an old bottom-feeder like me.
Click to expand...

Ain't that the truth? Like computer gear, buying 2nd and 3rd generation keeps the price down - let others be on the bleeding edge. Just glad there's lots of people out there ready to queue up for the latest greatest. If I like it, I'll buy it when they're done with it.
 
If you can measure it, you can sell it. What is needed is a standard way to measure and compare other image attributes, such as noise, color quality, high ISO performance, etc. That's one reason the megapixel wars lasted so long. It was easy to measure, and one number said it all. Give me a number and a place to stand and I can get BEMs to buy anything.

/T
 
Tuolumne said:
If you can measure it, you can sell it. What is needed is a standard way to measure and compare other image attributes, such as noise, color quality, high ISO performance, etc. That's one reason the megapixel wars lasted so long. It was easy to measure, and one number said it all. Give me a number and a place to stand and I can get BEMs to buy anything.

/T
Click to expand...

Granted, but 'megapixels' has been burned into the BEM brain for a number of years now, with the notion that more=better. It will be hard to shift their attention to something else that's shiny and new. Note the TV commercials where they had to hammer home again and again the importance of anti-shake, and face-detection (for the point and shoot crowd). It was a massive effort to get them to stop watching the shiny megapixel number for a few seconds. BEMs are hard to train, but once they think they know something, it's equally hard to get them off it.
 
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