Digital Home Thoughts: The Myth of Maximum Megapixels

"Camera vendors and consumer electronics retailers sell digital cameras as if the pixel count -- the number of pixels a camera's electronics can capture -- is the most important measure of quality. I'm here to tell you that pixel count has become unimportant almost to the point of irrelevance. Megapixels don't matter anymore. Ten years ago, consumer-level digital cameras weren't capable of taking good pictures. The optics were lousy, the electronics were unsophisticated, and the settings were relatively limited. Buying a better camera back then meant spending big bucks for a 2-megapixel model rather than, say, a 1.3-megapixel one. As overall digital camera quality rose, so did pixel counts. Then, a couple of years ago, the industry silently passed an invisible milestone: Affordable consumer cameras reached, then exceeded, the number of pixels nonprofessional photographers could practically use. The current standard is just over 10 megapixels. In an effort to convince you that your camera is obsolete and you need to buy a new one, camera vendors keep harping on the more-megapixels-are-better myth."

I 100% agree with Mike Elgan, author of this article. Gone are the days when megapixels really did matter, nowadays you have to look at all the supporting machinery and optics when buying the camera. Even the styling matters more. My girlfriend and I were recently contemplating a new point-and-shoot for her and the choice was between a Canon 10MP and a Fujitsu 6MP. The Fujitsu offered the better optics, the better control, the better shots under extreme ISO settings, etc. and this is why I recommended the Fujitsu to her. So note to everyone: megapixels are not only not the most important feature in a camera anymore, they may be one of the least important.