Is there much difference in photo quality from 6 to 10 mp?

Question

I know it means you can blow your pics up bigger, but just curious if any one knows if there's a difference in your pic's quality? I'm comparing the Nikon D40 and D60.

Answer 1

i am sure the nikon is the same as the canon rebel. my canon rebel is an 8mp rebel xt and it shoots pictures that look identicle to the 12mp rebel xti, so i think there is not a big enough difference to matter.

Answer 2

The 6MP D40 was replaced by the D40x which is 10MP just like the D60

The D40x (6mp) photos are just about the same when compared to the D40x (10mp)

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/NikonD40...

The D60 photos compared to the D40x are slightly flatter less contrast, but no difference in quality

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond60...

D60 has a   '23.7 x 15.8 mm'  CCD sensor

D40x has a '23.6 x 15.6 mm'  CCD sensor

D40 has a   '23.6 x 15.6 mm CCD sensor

D60 has just a .2mm bigger CCD

So apart from bigger prints no major diffrences between them

Hope that helps

.

Answer 3

Just as you suspected there is no other benefit to more pixels than the ability to print larger, or crop extensively and still have enough pixels for a reasonable print. If both sensors are the same size obviously there are more pixels 'crammed' into the same space on a 10Mp camera so resolution is higher, but at 'native' format or below you will see no difference in print quality.

A 6Mp sensor will allow 'native' (without adding or removing pixels (interpolating)) printing to a tad over A4 size, a 10Mp will print A3+ sized pictures. With interpolation, of course, you can print a lot bigger than this.

The one caveat to all this is if you want to sell your pictures via a stock photo site many of the best won't accept files from anything less than a 10Mp camera, and even on the others a high pixel count makes for more sales.

There is a hidden cost with a high pixel count in that you need a higher spec of computer to manipulate them without it taking forever mainly a lot of RAM, and you will need larger hard drives for storage.

Chris