Month: September 2018

Set yourself free from the megapixel race.

The megapixel race, with its pursuit of sharpness, seems unending. Is this really important or is it just a callous marketing ploy used to make the last iteration of whizzy cameras redundant? Here’s an interesting fact… According to Thorsten von Overgaard, the Danish writer and photographer; – “When we were using film ( I assume here he is talking about 35mm film) those images equalled around 18-20 Megapixels.”   And I ask – didn’t those images set our perception of “Sharp”? – Where does that leave us with modern digital cameras being 24, 37 and 100 Mega Pixels? – Thorsten argues those extra pixels are simply “overkill”  because as he puts it  “What are we going to do with that level of sharpness – or detail might be a better expression”? Making a print will not evidence those extra pixels. Thorsten argues the only benefit of such pixel size is when you want to use just a portion of the image. He closes his argument with the simple statement of… “If it looks sharp, it is.” I …