CCD Sensors

[izzy181]

ok i'm confused, but this is how i understand it, lets say we have a:

23.5 x 15.7 mm CCD Sensor

10.7 million total pixels

10.2 million effective pixels

or

23.5 x 15.7 mm CCD Sensor

6.31 million total pixels


6.1 million effective pixels



from what i understand the more you cram onto a sensor the picture quality wont be as good on a CCD Sensor the same size like here in this example. so from what i have read in this example the 6MP camera would be better than the 10MP camera?

ie:

nikon d40 6mp

nikon d40x 10mp

&

pentax k200d 10mp

pentax k100d 6mp

these 4 cameras use the same size CCD.

so please correct me if i am wrong.



thanks

[TCav]

Not quite.

The greater the megapixels, the greater detail in the image and the higher the image quality.

Until you start increasing the ISO setting. That increases the sensitivity of the image sensor, and it starts generating it's own spurious signal, which is called noise. Noise is more likely to occur at higher pixel densities, and that is where picture quality degrades sooner andfaster the more megapixels crammed onto an image sensor.

So long as you keep the ISO setting reasonable (~400-800), the more megapixels you have the better the image (so long as the image sensor is the limiting factor. At some point, the lens becomes the limiting factor and the megapixels don't matter any more.)

[VTphotog]

Good examples. Have you looked at the reviews of the cameras and sample pictures? Theoretically, the 6MP sensors should give you lower noise, and therefore, better low-light performance. (all other things being equal - which is the catch)

In most conditions, you probably won't see any difference between them. If your lenses have sufficient resolving power, the 10MP images should look better when printed at sizes greater than, say 8"x10".

This probably doesn't answer your question, because 'better' is relative to what you expect to use the camera for.

brian