added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...

Doesn't the size of the sensor have a large effect on picture
quality? You can't talk about megapixels without talking about
sensor size. Point-and-shoot cameras vary widely in sensor
sizes and there's also some variation in DSLRs.
That medium format 33MP camera uses a much larger sensor than
the typical 24x16mm found in DSLRs, so it's probably not such
a great technical feat to put more megapixels on it.

Certainly true. Lens quality and the "quality" of the camera's
image processing firmware are also big factors as is the
compression algorithm if using JPEG. Overall quality isn't
limited to just one criterion like mega pixels no matter what the
camera makers would like the newbies to believe. It's hard for
anyone with even a modicum of knowledge to think that an 8 MP P &
S for $100 is going to match an equivalent image size DSLR but
apparently lots do. There IS a place for small P & S cameras,
they're quite handy for guys to just stuff in a pocket when they
go out or gals to put in their purse rather than to haul several
pounds around - so long as the users are realistic about what
they're actually going to achieve.

--
HP, aka Jerry

Don't be a fop or a blooter, make only pithy comments on Usenet