The folk at 6mpixel.org have come out with a pretty coherent argument against buying any compact digital camera over 6 megapixel. The reason? More megapixels don’t necessarily mean better image quality. Of course regular Ferret readers will know this already, but it bears repeating.
Quite a while ago we noticed that the image quality of digital cameras was getting worse instead of better. The reason is that today’s sensors are divided into more and therefore smaller pixels. We want to clarify the consequences on this website. The reason we bring this up is the vicious circle we are in and have to break out of. Most people have heard that a lot of pixels make a good camera hence they buy the cameras with the most pixels. Thus, manufacturers produce cameras with more and more pixels so that they will sell better. But this does not improve the quality of the pictures.
Thank you for this. I have known several people who brag about having more megapixels than someone else, and now I know why it doesn’t matter. I’ve often believed that I don’t personally need more than 6 because I’m not a pro and don’t blow my images up to huge sizes, but it’s nice to know the tech talk to explain why they can save their money and avoid that 12 mp camera!