I am gathering info so I can choose a point n shoot camera. Some of you are suggesting that 10 mp is all I need. AND That I need to consider the sensor size. Processor? Help educate me please.
What is "the sensor size" is this what they call sensor resolution? Image processor?
Best answer:
Answer by rocky
yes
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all point and shoot cameras have basically the same sensor size.
ReplyDeleteANYWAY, in a nutshell what companies are doing is forcing 14 or 15mp on that teeny-tiny sensor that is in those cameras. The picture quality will actually come out worse by doing so. On a DSLR camera, you have a much bigger sensor and with that you can produce more brilliant and much better images.
Megapixel simply means size of a picture, not the quality.
This might help you understand: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_sensor_format
ReplyDeleteIt is possible to look up specifications here.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs.asp
Their specifications include sensor size and pixel density. A lower pixel density is usually better. These days a common diagonal sensor size for compact cameras is 1/2.3 ". A few compact cameras have slightly larger sensors, for example the Canon S95 at 1/1.7 " or the Panasonic LX5 at 1/1.63 ". A smaller denominator is a larger size.
Most compact cameras from all the major name brands make the sensor size something that's hard to find out. They don't exactly like to publish in big letters that their camera has a tiny little sensor.
ReplyDeleteIt's the quick and easy what to get a larger optical zoom from a tiny camera with a small lens. That's why you see compacts that have gone from the popular 3x optical zoom to 5x and now 10x without allowing the camera to become too large.
So the fast any easy thing to do is look for the camera that has the features that you will actually use and that has the SMALLEST pixel count. This will ensure you have larger pixels and the potential for less noise and grain in images captured in low light at high ISO.
But to be honest, the camera makers are so greedy for money that it's hard to find much out there that's under 10 megapixels.
One last thing to look at, the high end compacts from Panasonic, Canon and Nikon will generally have a larger image sensor, the terms they use are actually confusing but anyway they will be listed at 1/1.6, 1.7 and 1.8
The LX3 from Panasonic is a good example of this.
If you want a compact with a large image sensor that will destroy any compact, just get a Sony NEX. Yes it costs more but it's dSLR quality in a more compact form. http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644718498&N=4294951733#/nex5Section
good luck.