Diffraction Puzzle

[Black Pearl]

Whether its true or not pretty much any super zoom I can think of has a small sensor with lots of pixels so its a moot point.

If you want a small camera with a large zoom range (they are a very handy 'tool' to have around) then ignore the negative points, look for the features you want (not all are equal) and just enjoy taking pictures with it. I've been playing around with the 2012 generation super zooms and their 20x optical zooms are astonishing. Yes there are differences when zoomed right into pixel level and the ones with the very high pixel counts (up to 18mp on some) can be a bit grim when viewed this way but I printed dozens of shots out at 6x9" and they were all fantastic. As these cameras are aimed at family and holiday shooters then even 6x9" is bigger than they are ever likely to be printed.

From a photographers point of view I'd like to see a manufacturer with the balls to produce one of these cameras with about 8mp. The noise levels would be lower, the dynamic range would be far greater, it would be faster, you could shoot more shots on a sensible sized card and you would still have enough info to make a big print........it ain't gonna happen as this market is pixel driven so you've just got to work with whats available.

[Daos]

Whether its true or not pretty much any super zoom I can think of has a small sensor with lots of pixels so its a moot point.

If you want a small camera with a large zoom range (they are a very handy 'tool' to have around) then ignore the negative points, look for the features you want (not all are equal) and just enjoy taking pictures with it. I've been playing around with the 2012 generation super zooms and their 20x optical zooms are astonishing. Yes there are differences when zoomed right into pixel level and the ones with the very high pixel counts (up to 18mp on some) can be a bit grim when viewed this way but I printed dozens of shots out at 6x9" and they were all fantastic. As these cameras are aimed at family and holiday shooters then even 6x9" is bigger than they are ever likely to be printed.

From a photographers point of view I'd like to see a manufacturer with the balls to produce one of these cameras with about 8mp. The noise levels would be lower, the dynamic range would be far greater, it would be faster, you could shoot more shots on a sensible sized card and you would still have enough info to make a big print........it ain't gonna happen as this market is pixel driven so you've just got to work with whats available.

Thanks for answer.
I share your point of view but it seems like manufacturers did not believe that many people will prefer 8Mp compact camera over 16Mp.
What if I print 8x12" which need for about 8.7Mp on 300ppi photolabs? Is there on 1/2" 16Mp sensor at least 9Mp of 'fair pixels'? Or such large prints possible only from larger sensors (larger not only on pixel count but real size AND pixel count)?

[Black Pearl]

Photo labs don't need a 300ppi file.

I have a slightly cropped image from my 5mp iPhone on the wall at work printed at 10x15" and it looks amazing.

[Colin Southern]

180PPI is more than adequate for most photo lab images.