Buying a new camera...is higher MP really better?

[fanaticfour]

I'm planning to buy a new camera soon and I checked out a couple of models, mostly 10.1 MP and 12 MP. Is a camera with a higher MP really better? Should I consider getting the 12 MP ones? There are so many choices and it's really overwhelming! I never understood what MP are and whether it could improve the quality of my pictures.

I own a camera that's 5 MP which I bought 5 years ago. I never thought of replacing it until recently when I took photos at a wedding I attended. The photos came out dark and blurry which got me thinking that it's really time to upgrade! Is it important that the camera have a good night mode/indoor setting too?

Please help!:confused:

[Animeka]

I'm planning to buy a new camera soon and I checked out a couple of models, mostly 10.1 MP and 12 MP. Is a camera with a higher MP really better? Should I consider getting the 12 MP ones? There are so many choices and it's really overwhelming! I never understood what MP are and whether it could improve the quality of my pictures.

I own a camera that's 5 MP which I bought 5 years ago. I never thought of replacing it until recently when I took photos at a wedding I attended. The photos came out dark and blurry which got me thinking that it's really time to upgrade! Is it important that the camera have a good night mode/indoor setting too?

Please help!:confused:

High MP count doesn't make a camera better. High MP basically means you can print them out bigger and keep the image quality.

Go for the camera that has the features that you want, and forget the MP count. 8-10-12-15-25, unless you're thinking of using your photos to make poster size prints, don't worry about it.

[SENSEI]

I'm planning to buy a new camera soon and I checked out a couple of models, mostly 10.1 MP and 12 MP. Is a camera with a higher MP really better? Should I consider getting the 12 MP ones? There are so many choices and it's really overwhelming! I never understood what MP are and whether it could improve the quality of my pictures.

I own a camera that's 5 MP which I bought 5 years ago. I never thought of replacing it until recently when I took photos at a wedding I attended. The photos came out dark and blurry which got me thinking that it's really time to upgrade! Is it important that the camera have a good night mode/indoor setting too?

Please help!:confused:

Is your current camera a P&S?

There really isn't a P&S camera that can take good wedding photos in a darker church with limited lighting regardless of the number of MP.

What's really important these days is the size of the sensor. 5MP on a huge DSLR sensor will yield 100X better results than 25MP on a cell-phone sensor.

In general, the larger the sensor, the more light it can collect and the better the picture will be.

Think of MP like buckets to collect light. The more MP, the more light a camera can collect. BUT, the more MP you cram into the same size camera, the smaller the buckets become, so there really isn't any benefit.

Don't base your choice on MP. Think of what kind of photography you want to do, think about budget, and I'm sure we can give you better directions for a camera choice.

[Firebot]

The reason why the pictures are dark and blurry is that point and shoot cameras without flash are generally very slow lens, and the longer the lens stays on the more it will be affected by camera movement, causing your pictures to be blurry, and still dark because not enough light gets in to the camera. Were you using auto mode? It has nothing to do with the MP, but you can definitly get a newer camera. You just need to know in what environment you are in and adjust your settings accordingly. Point and shoot cameras without a flash are generally very poor in indoors low light situation.

[fanaticfour]

Thank you for your responses. To answer a few of your questions...

The reason why the pictures are dark and blurry is that point and shoot cameras without flash are generally very slow lens, and the longer the lens stays on the more it will be affected by camera movement, causing your pictures to be blurry, and still dark because not enough light gets in to the camera. Were you using auto mode? It has nothing to do with the MP, but you can definitly get a newer camera. You just need to know in what environment you are in and adjust your settings accordingly. Point and shoot cameras without a flash are generally very poor in indoors low light situation.

Yes, I was using auto mode but disabled the flash thinking that it would make the photo look better. But without the flash the photo was blurry and pixelated. How come with the flash photos taken indoors don't look any better? When I use the flash indoors the subject is really bright while the background is very dark.


Is your current camera a P&S?

There really isn't a P&S camera that can take good wedding photos in a darker church with limited lighting regardless of the number of MP.

What's really important these days is the size of the sensor. 5MP on a huge DSLR sensor will yield 100X better results than 25MP on a cell-phone sensor.

In general, the larger the sensor, the more light it can collect and the better the picture will be.

Think of MP like buckets to collect light. The more MP, the more light a camera can collect. BUT, the more MP you cram into the same size camera, the smaller the buckets become, so there really isn't any benefit.

Don't base your choice on MP. Think of what kind of photography you want to do, think about budget, and I'm sure we can give you better directions for a camera choice.

Yes, my current camera is a point and shoot. Is there a way for me to know the size of the sensor of my camera? Is that information on the camera itself or do I have to check in the camera options? I hear a lot about Carl Zeiss lenses. What is this and why would I want to get one?

Definitely not professional photography. One concern I have is I don't want to have to worry about palying with the settings if I want to take a good photo of people indoors or moving subjects.

Two cameras that I've seen that appeal to me are the Sony Cyber-Shot W290 (12.1MP) and the Canon Powershot SX120IS (10MP).


High MP count doesn't make a camera better. High MP basically means you can print them out bigger and keep the image quality.

Go for the camera that has the features that you want, and forget the MP count. 8-10-12-15-25, unless you're thinking of using your photos to make poster size prints, don't worry about it.

No, I do not plan to make poster-size prints. What features should I look for in a good point and shoot camera?

[ShadowVlican]

find your camera here:
http://www.dpreview.com/

they have sensor size info

[cyder]

For the camera flash whiting out subjects it may be a matter of the people being too close to the flash or the intensity of the flash. On some cameras you can change how bright the flash will go. If it is in a dark room you likely won't get any of the background lit. If the camera has a night shot mode that may work better. It may be worth some time going into a dark room for a bit and just take a few snaps in a few different modes just to see what the camera is capable of doing. You will probably find you get similiar results with newer cameras as well in terms of taking pictures in a darker room/church/reception hall.

A cheap way to fix the brightness of a flash that worked well for me is to get the paper that is used to cover a straw at a fast food place and place it in front of the flash, it will soften the effects of the flash. I always keep a couple of papers in my P&S camera bag.

[cipher]

If size and price isn't a huge factor, you should look at the Canon G11. If size doesn't matter at all, get a digital SLR. They are quite affordable and will blow away most P&S cameras.