Who Needs More Megapixels?

This is a partial crop. I'll show a full crop further down.

 On June 10th I wrote a post titled "How Many Megapixels Do You Need?" The answer I gave was "not many." And that's true -- most of the time, and for most of us.

However, some photographers, especially those photographing birds or wildlife, may find that even their 800 or 1000mm lenses cannot get them close enough. They need to crop, and also maintain the quality of their images while doing so. That's where cameras with high megapixel counts come in.

This is the uncropped version of the photograph above.

This pair of pileated woodpeckers were approximately 40 yards from my kitchen window. I was using a Fuji X-T20 camera and the longest lens I owned at the time, the inexpensive but very sharp Fujinon XC 50-230 f4.5-6.3. At full extension the focal length was equivalent to a 345mm lens on a full-frame camera.

This is the final crop. Well more than a hundred percent and still very sharp. In fact, I clicked on View and Actual Pixels in Photoshop and the eyes and feathers are still fairly sharp. But you can't go a whole lot farther with a 24 megapixel sensor.

I'm happy with these pictures, but since I seldom do this kind of photography it's not worth my while to buy a high-megapixel camera and jam up my hard drive with over-large files. Those who need this kind of capability know who they are. The rest of us, not so much.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.50 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography      megapixels     pileated woodpeckers      Fuji X-T20 digital camera      Fujinon XC 50-230mm lens      Photoshop