Digital Cameras- which is best feature to look for, ISO level or mega pixels?

Question

Cant decide on camera from Canon Ixus range (ISO 800) or Fuji range (ISO 64-1600)

Answer 1

First of all, whichever one you end up with you'll likely be very happy. You should investigate any online reviews you can find of both cameras to see what features of each are particularly well designed or not. There may be other factors you haven't thought of that could be crucial to a decision as to which to buy.

These are small digicams, and so the tendency is for them to exhibit much more digital "noise" (i.e., graininess in the form of tiny red/green dots interspersed throughout the photo) than you would get with a large digital SLR camera. Even though Fuji boasts that its cameras are "low noise," at ISO 1600 the results are likely to be pretty grainy. For nearly all picture-taking purposes, ISO 800 should be sufficient.

As for how many pixels you need, the truth is that 5 megapixels or even 4 are sufficient to make excellent prints up to 8" x 10". With small cameras like these, cramming increasing megapixel capacity onto a small sensor can result in increased picture noise. For the camera with the higher level of pixels, check reviews to see whether this has been achieved at the cost of increased noise.

Finally: pay some attention to the ergonomics of each camera. How does it feel in your hand? How easy are the controls to use, including navigating through the menus, making manual adjustments, etc.? And what about battery life and the convenience of recharging the battery? In practical terms these can be very significant issues once you actually own the camera.

Good luck; I'm sure you'll be happy with your purchase, whichever way you decide.

Answer 2

The two are kind of related. The number of pixels crammed into the ccd chip has increased and now 10MP compact cameras are available. However, as the size of the ccd has not generally increased in proportion the amount of light available to each pixel has decreased. So whereas cameras of a year ago started at ISO 100 the new range of cameras have to start at ISO 50 to make the best use of the available light. So they are less sensitive. Increasing the ISO setting on the camera now seems to lead to the noise on the image increasing at a far earlier stage than the 'old' cameras with less Mega Pixels! Mega Pixels are important to a point but too many is not necessarily better!

Answer 3

With regard to resolution, 6 mega-pixels is plenty for a full page print. Anything more is probably overkill on a point & shoot: the tiny sensor and the consumer grade lens will become the bottle neck.
With regard to the maximum ISO, the specs might say that a camera goes up to 1600, but if the image quality is crap at that level, it's not really of much use. (800 and above is only necessary for night time street photography, etc.) As others have suggested, read the reviews. Places like Steve's Digicams and dpreview.com have good ones.

Answer 4

The ISO is the sensitivity of the sensor of the camera. Mega pixels is how much data each photo contains.

The higher ISO level can help you take shots in lower light conditions, BUT they can be very 'noisy'. I'm not sure how much you car about that. My suggestion would be to read both reviews here - http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html

Answer 5

Higher megapixels doesn't necessarily mean better quality, but with either of these two makes you can't go wrong. I would say go into your local camera shop and try out how they work and how they feel to you, and then think whether you will need a higher ISO (will you be taking a lot of pictures in low lighting, if yes, the go for the Fuji). I have shot on a Fuji for years and it's always given me great pictures, but I also know people who have been delighted by their Canon models...

Answer 6

OMG's answer. What he said...

If this is the stumbling block in your decision, you will probably not really take advantage of the higher available ISO anyway. This is not available to you in the automatic modes. But, you can take advantage of the higher pixel count with every single shot.

If you come back with specific models, maybe we can help you decide.

Answer 7

While I love Nikon cameras, I agree with your choice of the Canon A620. We did a lot of shopping while trying to stay in the under $400 range and this is exactly what we bought for our adult son before he went on a trip to Europe. For that money, you can get the camera and a one gigabyte memory card. The A620 lets you control everything, if you know how, or it takes great shots in several automatic modes. This has been the Comcast Shopping Top Choice for months now. It uses "AA" batteries, too.

Answer 8

It depends what level of photography you want to get into - To be fair, i love to take a picture or two all the time, and i've found that the Sony Ericsson K700i with it's 3MP Camera is Fantastic for doing just that - Out of pocket - SNAP, SNAP, back in pocket! You can upload the pictures to your computer and everything - You have many features on it that would be included in a professianal camera - my advice - Talk to your service provider and get the free upgrade on your phone for Christmas!

Answer 9

i have a digital camera with 5 mega pixels and it takes fantasticaly clear pictures, i love it!

Answer 10

I would go with the fuji range of 64 to 1600 that is closest to the best SLR cameras and gives you a much wider range