Question about eBay...

I've been doing some searching on digital cameras, as I would like to buy a Sony Cybershot. However, I've been seeing A LOT of digital cameras with 8.0 megapixels or higher, that are inexpensive and have a brand name that I've never heard of before. Would it be wise to spend $20 bucks or so on these "high resolution" cameras, or is it just a waste of time and money? If you're curious as to the information about the camera, you can check it out here.

OK, finally somebody has something I am an “expert” in…


First up, it all depends on what you want to do with your images. For example: If you will never, ever print and just want to view online, you don’t need high resolution at all. I mean 2.0 is enough if you don’t need to zoom or crop in that much.

If you plan on printing, you will need higher resolutions. And even then the print size has more to do with resolution than anything else. If you will never print larger than a 5x7, 3.0 is plenty (3.0 will make a really good 8x10 if you have a decent camera too).

4.0 will make fantastic 8x10’s and even larger. Of course, resolution will never hurt your photo’s, but don’t feel that you need to pay more for it if you don’t need it.

One benefit to high resolution cameras that may or may not be useful to you is that you can crop into an image and retain image quality better with a high resolution camera than a low one. Remember: More pixels = smaller pixels. Smaller pixels can be “stretched” to fill in the gaps while zooming and retain image quality better than fewer, larger pixels.

So, what does all this mean? If you have the cash, buy as much resolution as you can, but you really don’t need to buy it if you don’t need it. 4-5 mega pixels are PLENTY for 98% of any imaging most people will ever do. Trust me and save your cash.

Here is an analogy:

Some cars can do 190 MPH, and thats nice. But the speed limit is still 65 and most cars can do that just fine. Think of the VAST majority of your printing as that 65 mph speed limit.

I would rather you invest that cash into a camera that has a better lens (Sony uses Carl Zeiss, YEAH BABY!), good OPTICAL zoom (digital zoom is meaningless), and a decent rechargeable battery.

I have an old Sony DSC-75, 3.0 mp with a HUGE Carl Zeiss lens. I take amazing ultra high quality 8x10’s with ease.


Hope this helps.




[edit on 29-9-2005 by skippytjc]