MEGAPIXELS vs Actual Camera Quality

IMHO with a tiny sensor and lense it's nearly impossible to have a good camera, especially in lower light conditions. My DSLR is an older model with a similar mp count to my Droid but the difference in image quslity is dramatic.

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companies like canon and nikon have stopped the megapixel wars. Notice that their top end cameras are actually dropping in megapixels, but the sensor is increasing. The big deal is with full frame sensors, etc etc. For example, look at the Canon S95.

Hell, I recall a new video cam that records high def video...and is 2 megapixels.

 

Different company have different polices. And they have quite different qualities

 

Right. My 6.3 MP 10D is about 8 years old now and still gives me the best photo quality of any of my digital cameras. The size of the CMOS sensor is probably the biggest reason, but lens quality is also a big factor. I have an old 1.5 MP Olympus camera that takes better photos than my 5 MP Droid, or probably any smartphone camera for that matter. The size of the sensor and lens in a smartphone camera is far smaller than even one of those new very thin cameras from Canon, Nikon, etc. With each pixel being so small, it is impossible to gather enough light for noise free photos. Also, there is no way to build the lens elements into such a small lens and achieve the sort of quality that 10 or 12 element lens with aspherical elements achieve.

 

All megapixels does is transfer into a bigger actual picture (better overall quality on a larger scale).

It takes more pixels to fill a 8x10 area than it does a 4x6 area for example.....so having more megapixels will equal better quality on a bigger canvas.

But thats about it.....like others have said, there are much more important components to getting a "good" picture.

 

There are many articles on the internet that explain megapixels and quality.

Megapixels and Inches Explained

Megapixels Explained

 

Yeah megapixels and touting them are just a way to get more sales. Doesn't equate into better picture quality. 8MP Camera!! sounds so much better than 5MP camera...

It helps companies sell phones, that's all (My friend believes the Incredible is the best phone available today because of it's 8MP camera. I laugh). There are far more factors involved in PQ than just how many megapixels a camera has...

 

I think as other specs are quickly approaching the "functional horizon" or whatever you want to call it, OEM's will have to look at other ways to differentiate the hardware.

I wonder when some genius will figure out putting a really good camera on a phone makes a lot of sense. I don't take many pictures BUT it would be nice to know I can snap a great pic or shoot a nice video at the spur of the moment. How hard would it be to have a bigger and better lense, maybe with a bit of a telescoping lense?

Eventually this is all why phones have to go made-to-order. If you go the Dell route and get a big early lead you could slaughter the competition (for a time, right, everyone falls eventually). Part of my frustration (which a lot of people seem to share) is the OEM's are all picking and choosing from a list of options to create a phone they think we want, and they are limited by that mythical "sweet spot" of a contract price. Someone needs to break the mold. Maybe you don't want dual core but you want a lot better camera. Maybe you don't want HDMI out but would like a second USB port. And maybe, like, you're actually willing to pay $400 contract to get the latest and best on everything.

 

I don't think there is enough room for a good lense and sensor on most phones. Maybe multiple small cameras along with some electronic wizardry to combine the images would be the way to go?

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One of these phone manufacturers needs to partner with nikon or canon or something.

I would totally pay a premium for, say, a canon s95 running android. Sure, it might be a bit thick, but totally worth it.