01-12-2011, 07:16 PM
Would much rather have a 16 megapixel camera that has great ISO 12800 performance (15 times my Nex's limit of ISO 800), than to have a camera with a 15 times resolution 200 megapixel sensor. That would be such a huge game changer, to be able to use 1/150th of a second shutter speed everywhere I have to use 1/10th of a second now. And to be able to use 1/1000th to 1/4000th of a second shutter speed at F11 or F16 whenever am outside in the daytime! Much, much more important than some ability to make 40 inch prints instead of 10 inch ones that look smooth, with a lens that would have to be used at F4 or F5.6 to match the super resolution.
However, Brightcolours has made the interesting point that reducing noise or increasing pixels might end up leading to the same place. And if we had mega-resolution sensors, we could certainly throw away the AA filter, nice.
To be specific, if my camera had a 200 megapixel sensor with the same per-pixel noisiness as my current Nex, maybe it would indeed be usable at much higher ISO right now. Because I could down-sample the image to one-sixteenth size and get rid of a lot of noise.
Interesting arguments. Would not shed a tear if all APS-C sensor developers drew a line in the sand at 24 megapixels (something like 18x24 inch final prints at 240 dots per inch) and said "from here on in, we're only increasing dynamic range and usable ISO levels, or switching to Foveon-type no-color-filter-array technolgy".
However, Brightcolours has made the interesting point that reducing noise or increasing pixels might end up leading to the same place. And if we had mega-resolution sensors, we could certainly throw away the AA filter, nice.
To be specific, if my camera had a 200 megapixel sensor with the same per-pixel noisiness as my current Nex, maybe it would indeed be usable at much higher ISO right now. Because I could down-sample the image to one-sixteenth size and get rid of a lot of noise.
Interesting arguments. Would not shed a tear if all APS-C sensor developers drew a line in the sand at 24 megapixels (something like 18x24 inch final prints at 240 dots per inch) and said "from here on in, we're only increasing dynamic range and usable ISO levels, or switching to Foveon-type no-color-filter-array technolgy".