A Benefit of only Viewing on a Monitor . .

[xpatUSA]

. . as opposed to printing, that is.

It's simply this. I only generate images to view on my computer monitor, or to post on the web, never more than say 1024x768px. So, even if I were to view an image on my HD TV, the "biggest" image I need is 1920x1080px. Which is a mere 2MP. Which makes my 3.4MP main camera perfectly adequate for the task!

Gotta love it. :-)

[Mike Buckley]

I agree, Ted. People often tend to overrate the importance of the number of pixels provided by a camera.

[davidedric]

That makes sense when you can get the image that you want full frame or thereabouts. I find that with wildlife photography my lenses often just don't have the reach to do that, even on a crop frame camera. Then, being able to crop quite aggressively and still have a decent number of pixels to work with, can be a big plus. So I think it depends on your photography style and interests.

[chrisletts]

Dave has it - the more pixels you have to work with, the more freedom you have to crop.

[pnodrog]

The more you crop the higher the quality the sensor and lens needs to be. Don't expect a 2mp image taken by a cropping a 36mp sensor image to be as good as one taken by cropping a 3.4mpix sensor, it might be if the lens was fantastic but I would not bank on it. (Talking about bank also makes me think of the big difference in equipment costs)

[Dave Humphries]

I agree Ted,

The other advantage, perhaps for those with somewhat higher MP cameras; say 12MP, is that you can do as I do, if making an image as a wallpaper or screensaver.

I crop, then down size to 1920 x 1080 (also the resolution of my main monitors both at home and work), which gives me plenty of opportunity to sharpen after the downsize, and make 'em look good, even if they weren't that sharp to start with

Cheers,

[xpatUSA]

Yes, I can see that the final image aspect ratio could be a concern although, with my watch photography, that tends to more like 5:4 or maybe 4:3 (approx). My mention of viewing on an HD TV was a 'frinstance on my part but most folks do have 16:9 monitors these days arguably a nicer match to 3:2 cameras.

I still use a 5:4 (1280x1024px) monitor, just a personal preference in my cramped quarters ;-)