In my opinion, 12MP Canon G9, A650, SD950 are an excess. Is anybody who really needs extra pixels for compact?

Question

In itself, the idea of changing Canon’s favorite 1/2.5” sensor size to bigger is great. Nevertheless, in case of Canon G9, SD950 and A650 large 1/1.7 inch sensor has a trouble. Its useless 12 extra pixels with not needed 4000 x 3000 resolutions bring in superfluous sensor noise (for example look at G9 user’s opinion: ‘horrendous image noise above 200 ISO’ or my http://fototramp.blogspot.com/2007/11/canon-powershot-g9-sd950-and-a650-can.html). There’s nothing to be done, trying to put more pixels into the sensor a mfr has to make a pixel smaller. As a result, the sensor becomes warm and makes an image noisy. Please, express your one's opinion.

Answer 1

I completely agree. I would much rather see an 8 MP point-and-shoot with good low light / high ISO performance on the market than a 12 MP camera that still suffers in difficult lighting conditions.

Perhaps there has to be a difference in performance to encourage people to upgrade to a DSLR after owning a point-and-shoot for awhile... That's my bet. The quality of these point-and-shoots is really getting amazing except for the small sensors / noise. Who would spend more if they didn't have that limitation?

It also seems like too much of a coincidence that the cheap film cameras used to limit you to using 200 ISO film cartridges.... and now the cheaper digital cameras don't work well above 200 ISO either. The more things change... the more they stay the same... LOL

It's funny how they pretend to care by adding image stabilization to all the cameras, when increasing the sensor size a bit (without increasing the mega pixels) would probably be a much better improvement.

Answer 2

I think only professionals needs that kind of resolution and they generally avoid pocket camera because of the sensor size so... yea I completely agree with you.

The general consumer however are mislead by the megapixel thing (as you might also notice by the way some people answer in this community) and so to satisfy them they pack more megapixel in one small chip so they camera can be more marketable. It reminds me of the PMPO thing the speaker builder used to do to push their sales.

I think 5-6 megapixel is the sweet spot for the moment in term of pocket camera. Sadly, only a (relatively) few people in this world who are aware of this thing. Oh well. We can only hope that this is a perfect world, but it's not.

Answer 3

This is a very timely question. Shutterbug Magazine has an article in the Nov. 2007 issue titled "The Pros & Cons of Pixel Packing" (shutterbug.com). The article addresses this very issue.