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Digital Photography. Do We Really Need All These Mega Pixels?

What a day yeasterday was! I awoke feeling like some vicious dwarf had spent the complete evening sanding my throat with sandpaper while brutally swapping my grey matter with lime green jelly... yup I had man flu.  The morning didn't get that much better as I then spent what felt like an age driving around Northampton General Hospital hopelessly striving to park so that my son could show up at his hearing test appointment on time.  With these and many more inane irritants behind me I was at least looking forward to one aspect of my day, visiting my local colleges photography course open day, more explicitly I'd been promised a hands on demo by Hasselblad's area sales team of their brand new drool inducing digital camera range, the H4D series.

Well I'll overtly confess what a lovely piece of machinery this camera is, as with all previous Hasselbads (I've been lucky enough to own several) the build quality and ergonomics are just amazing, a bench mark for all other manufacturers to follow etc etc etc... but this isn't a review article.  What has been bugging me and by all accounts many other photographers, judging by the ones I met the other night, is this unmistakable mega pixel mania.  This stupid and down right deceptive obsession with the pixel count as a gauge of the quality of a camera and thus the photographer.

This isn't as an assault on any one particular camera company, at least Hasselblad aim their cameras at high end professionals whom might at least sometimes exploit all those 60 megapixels on a billboard poster or something as equally considerable, all camera brands are at it!  When did you last shoot a 48 or 96 sheet poster?  When did you last do a print greater than say A4?  In fact when did you last do a print at all?

I've been lucky enough to shoot for customers that have required billboard posters and exhibited in galleries with big prints all whilst shooting under the critical gaze of top London art directors.  Since taking a step back from the advertising world but still continuing to photograph in a professional setting where pressures are high I have hardly shot anything that the client desired to be printed larger than A4.   As a matter of fact after reviewing last years projects I can conclude that at least 75% of this commercial work will ever go near a printing press, instead they will remain firmly in the virtual world such as a clients internet website or email marketing campaign!

I have shot on all camera formats from 35mm SLRs through to large format view cameras but now choose to chiefly shoot on a 12 mega pixel camera system except the client specifically demands larger files, and I have never once had a client moan about image quality.  Sure I have to expolit many of my skills and photographic understanding in capturing files that are of a certain quality but the point I'm aiming to make is that these shots would have been no better if photographed on say a 22 mega pixel back, just bigger!

I often flick through my camera periodicals and indeed fantasize over owning the newest and greatest camera gadget, but I endeavor to resist the temptation to upgrade purely on the idea of acquiring superior picture quality.  Picture quality is not governed by pixel count or more specifically file size, that is the truth.  There are countless considerations that govern the quality of an image from the quality of the idea, the command and quality of light, exposure, post productio and of course all this depends on the expertise of the person behind the lense.  Consider the photographs that have most inspired you or made you go wow and I can assure you that many of those images were not captured on cameras of any better physical quality than even a modest modern day digital camera.

Modern day digital cameras are truly unbelievable devices and the great news is that you don't have to remortgage your house to buy one.  That makes them a great equalizer, photography is not just for the reserve of the rich and famous or the bearded camera bore (no offence to any bearded readers out there, I salute your hairyness!).  So get on ebay, pick up a 18 month old DSLR bargain that some kind sole traded in for a supposedly bigger and better model, read a couple of suitable books and then get on out there and start shooting like there's no tomorrow, hey there's no film to have to buy or process!

About the Author

This article has been supplied courtesy of Andy Nickerson.  Andy is a Northamptonshire commercial photographer with over 14 years experience in working for design and advertising professionals.  Visit http://www.bramptonvalleyphotography.co.uk/about.htm for more info.

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