Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote:
Great for Canon users, doesn't help if you don't own Canon Glass. If
I were starting from scratch I don't think I'd care if the sensor was
APS sized, and then the 12mp Nikon would be just fine.
Surely a 12Mp 24x36 sensor has several advantages over a, what is it,
16x24 12mp one? I mean, even disregarding the crop vs full-frame
consideration, bigger is still better in many ways, isn't it?
Yes indeed. One has only to see some large prints from a Canon 1D (only
4 megapixels but 1.3 crop factor) to see how true this is.
The advantage of a larger sensor with the same total resolution is
better signal to noise ratio, more light gathering power thus higher
ISO, etc. This has to be balanced against higher cost, larger/heavier
lenses, and effective quality for the output print size you're
looking for. [ ... ]
I might be ready to spring for a $1500 body sometime soon if the
advantage in it is great enough, but a $3500 body would require a
good bit more potential return before it would be worth it.
Yep. I've always been wondering how much of that, say, $2000 extra is
actually made up by the sensor cost, though. It's often mentioned on
this list and elsewhere how expensive FF sensors are, but does anyone
know what they actually cost? Also, people often talk about how large
chips cost a lot more to manufacture because they essentially need
higher quality silicon, but how much of the sensor price comes from raw
material cost, really?
- Toralf
