Thursday, June 06, 2013

Pixel Madness

How many pixels are enough?

100?  1000?  A million?  How about 14 million or 24 million?  At which point in a digital camera does "number of pixels" become irrelevant?

I think the question is along the lines of "at which point does beauty become irrelevant."

Suppose in cameras you had a 10 megabit model and a 14 and a 24.

On the other hand, you have Emma Stone, Giselle Blondet and Angelia Jolie.

What do do?  How you choose the "best?"

I think it's an interesting question.  Clearly a 10 megabit digital camera will take great photographs and probably exceed the expectations of the most avid tourist or family photographer.  A 14 megabit camera might be more apt for a nature photographer or a person looking to capture the tiniest detail, while the 24 megabit model is just over the top in both categories.  How do you handle that?  You have to be Brad Pitt!

"How many is enough" is probably the wrong question to ask because the resolutions will tend to increase as technology advances and at some point will become irrelevant.

It could be that all technology is on an asymptotic curve leading to diminishing returns.  But, somehow, I don't think we'll ever be satisfied with "good enough" or cameras would have stopped at 1 megapixel.  That was really good enough for government work, as they say.

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