Jim Feldspar Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 I was talking to a still photographer about this beautiful 18"x24" print, shot with a 6 megapixel digital camera. He was telling me how people are so hot to get as many megapixels as possible that now point and shoot cameras are offering 10 megapixels but the cameras are using chips so small that these 10 megapixel cameras can be pretty lousy, or at least way inferior to a 6 MP on a different sized chip. He asked me what's going on with video cameras and if similar marketing approaches are being done. I don't know. Are they? Also, is the great DOF with small chips because of the same physics as I believe I learned that with small apertures (closed way down) in film cameras, the light rays come in at narrower angles and so the circles of confusion are farther and smaller than with the wider angles of light rays at wider apertures? (Thus, an F16 on a 1/3" chip Mini-DV camera is going to have really great DOF.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted December 29, 2006 Premium Member Share Posted December 29, 2006 Smaller target areas, whether a smaller film frame or a small CCD, mean that you need shorter and shorter focal lengths to achieve the same field of view as a longer lens on a larger format. And short focal lengths have an effect on depth of field even if the circle of confusion figures are the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Feldspar Posted December 29, 2006 Author Share Posted December 29, 2006 Smaller target areas, whether a smaller film frame or a small CCD, mean that you need shorter and shorter focal lengths to achieve the same field of view as a longer lens on a larger format. And short focal lengths have an effect on depth of field even if the circle of confusion figures are the same. Thanks, David. That's a very clear explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Carreon Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Sorry to steal the thread...but how do you go about finding the Chip size for these digital still cameras? Whenever I try to find specs on them it just mentions the pixel count...6mp, 8mp, 10mp. I have heard it many times over that the chip size is very important...but you only seem to hear about chip size on Digital Camcorders. Am I just bad at looking these things up on the internet? Please throw me a bone if you can... Thanks, John Carreon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted December 29, 2006 Premium Member Share Posted December 29, 2006 There's one site called dpreview.com Here's a sample: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_eos30d.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Carreon Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Much appreciated David!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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