Megapixels

I started serious film photography in 1985 with an Olympus SLR film camera. These days I use a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera: a Canon 60D that I bought from Adorama with an 18-135mm zoom lens. The newer version is the Canon 70D. Unless you already have a compatible lens, you will probably want a kit that includes at least one lens. Nikon and Canon (among others) offer many excellent digital cameras and I will be comparing them in future blog entries. I've always experienced great customer service when purchasing through Adorama,  Amazon, and B&H Photo. 

The Canon 70D has 20.2 MP as opposed to the 18.0 MP of the 60D.  Let me take this opportunity to explain "MP" or megapixels.

A digital camera detects and records the light that falls on a sensor. The sensor is a rectangular grid of light sensitive elements called pixels. One million of these pixels is called one megapixel. The image size of your camera's digital sensor is measured in sensor array dimensions. For the Canon 60D this is 5184 x 3456 = 17,915,904 pixels, which is advertised as 18.0 MP. There is no visual reason to prefer 20.2 MP over 18.0 MP. A higher pixel count appeals to some consumers, but in fact many high-end professional digital cameras that sell for much more money than the Canon 70D have a lower megapixel count. So don't be tempted by a few extra MP -- save your money for a high-quality lens instead. I'll talk more about megapixels and sensor size in a later blog entry.

Here is a photo that I captured at 18 MP, then cropped to about 12 MP. I cropped the original image in order to have the child positioned in the right 1/3 of the image. She is running to the left, and the composition is improved by having more space in that direction. One advantage of using a high MP camera is the ability to crop and still maintain good image quality.

Copyright © 2013 Philip N. Wheeler. All Rights Reserved.
Philip Wheeler Photography