"John Francis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> It will be interesting to see if APS DSLRs ever move up to 8 or more >> megapixels. I don't know that the increase in pixel count on the same >> size sensor would give enough improvement in image quality to be worth >> the additional storage space (larger buffer in camera, more and bigger >> CF cards, greater use of hard drive and CD-ROM space). I don't think it >> would be for me. > >But those are exactly the areas which do get cheaper over time, rapidly. > >Two years ago even a 1GB CF card or Microdrive was very expensive, and >the 4GB drives hadn't been released. A 250GB hard drive (and a DVD >writer) would have cost more than my entire desktop system. > >In another year or so CF card size will have increased by another factor >of 4 (at constant price), hard drives will be bigger, and in-camera >buffers will be larger. The in-camera processor will be faster, too. >That 8 (or, more likely, 10) MP camera will buffer more images, and >process them faster, than the *ist-D does today.
Cost isn't the big issue. Power consumption is one and the limited improvement in image quality going from 6 to 8 megapixels is another. I don't expect to see 10 megapixels in an APS-size DSLR for a couple of years, and even then only as a result of the ongoing "pixel wars" rather than any real improvement (bragging rights, in other words). Smaller pixels will always make more noise than larger pixels and a 1 gig CF card will always hold more 6 megapixel images than 10 megapixel images. -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
