Nikon D80 'bad' for 8x10's

[jordan.meeter]

So, my father is a psychology professor at the local college. He mentioned to one of the school's photographers that I'm saving up money for a Nikon D80. She said she wishes she kept her Nikon D70 rather than buying a Nikon D80, because there are "too many megapixels" and is "only useful" if you are making prints that are 5 feet by 5 feet. She described it as "too many pixels" for an 8x10 print and that the average eye cannot tell the difference between 6.1 and 10.1 megapixels.

So... Is this a load from the bull, or what? Surely 10.1 megapixels is better than 6.1?

Thanks,
Jordan

[JaertX]

10.1 megapixels is not necessarily better than 6.1

About the lady who said that though, I suppose everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Idiot is an under used term in today's society, I think. Is that harsh? lol.

The D80 would be fine.

[jra]

I would agree that it would be tough to tell the difference between an 8x10 photo taken with a 6.1mp camera and a photo taken with a 10.1mp camera (all other things being equal of course). As far as the photog, she may have felt that the D80 was a poor purchase decision if all she prints is 8x10's and smaller. That would be my take :)

[davidmigl]

I think she means that the extra megapixels would be useless if you didn't print anything larger than that. But let's not forget about cropping and sharpness ;D.

[Bob_A]

Most printers print at a max of 300 dpi, so the highest resolution you need to make an 8x10 without cropping is 7.2 MP. A higher resolution camera will allow you to crop a bit and still be able to produce an 8x10 at 300 dpi without interpolation.

[jordan.meeter]

What is interpolation?

[Bob_A]

It's a software method for increasing the resolution of the image. Essentially the software fills in new (calculated) pixels between the existing ones based on the surrounding data.

[condyk]

Most printers print at a max of 300 dpi, so the highest resolution you need to make an 8x10 without cropping is 7.2 MP. A higher resolution camera will allow you to crop a bit and still be able to produce an 8x10 at 300 dpi without interpolation.

I will often shoot knowing I will need to crop for a specific bit of detail I want to capture, so the D80 would be nice for me ... but my shots are usually fine as is. I wouldn't buy one for px alone myself. I do think it is a nice camera tho'.

[Billginthekeys]

10.1mp is nice for cropping room. also, the D80 should have some considerable speed and feature options over the D70. infact it should be any times better in almost every way. MP alone is a narrow view of a camera.

[jordan.meeter]

What do you guys mean by cropping? Like, literally cutting off sections of the image?

[Billginthekeys]

What do you guys mean by cropping? Like, literally cutting off sections of the image?
yes, in a program of course, not with scissors.

[jordan.meeter]

Why would you crop??

[MagicallyDelicious]

Why would you crop??

To slightly tweek composition.

Take something out of the frame.

Zillions of possibilies.

[LBaldwin]

So, my father is a psychology professor at the local college. He mentioned to one of the school's photographers that I'm saving up money for a Nikon D80. She said she wishes she kept her Nikon D70 rather than buying a Nikon D80, because there are "too many megapixels" and is "only useful" if you are making prints that are 5 feet by 5 feet. She described it as "too many pixels" for an 8x10 print and that the average eye cannot tell the difference between 6.1 and 10.1 megapixels.

So... Is this a load from the bull, or what? Surely 10.1 megapixels is better than 6.1?

Thanks,
Jordan

Yes it is a load of bull. Remember the pixel sizes are always the same. The diff is actually the number of usable pixels in each image, or the file size.

If she primarily shoots for newsprint than she does have more file size than she needs. Notice I did not say resolution. There are many factor involved besides chip size that determine resolution.

If you read up on what was done by Dr. Carver Mead with the Foveon chips you can get better idea on how these numbers actually stack up.

In this case the question is the original photographers statement to your Dad.
From her obviously limited experience the newer camara justs wastes space on her HD. Ignore her. As you learn more and more about the digital aspects of photography you will find that you will need all the pixels you can get, regardless of print size.

Thats why you shoot raw and convert to whatever file type your app calls for.

Les

[Bob_A]

Why would you crop??

If you're like me, even if you get the composition right the image is often a bit crooked. When you straighten it in Photoshop you need to crop it.

[Bob_A]

I will often shoot knowing I will need to crop for a specific bit of detail I want to capture, so the D80 would be nice for me ... but my shots are usually fine as is. I wouldn't buy one for px alone myself. I do think it is a nice camera tho'.

I agree, the D80 is a very nice camera. I also agree that I wouldn't upgrade from my 20D just for more MP's. My next camera body will be full frame, and I'd be happier if Canon tweaked features on the 5D (weather sealing, sensor cleaning, faster x-sync, mirror lock-up button, Digic III) instead of increasing resolution.

[DocFrankenstein]

Surely 10.1 megapixels is better than 6.1?
I'd have to agree with her. You usually won't be able to tell a difference between the prints if the sensors are of the same sizy.

IE there's not much difference at ISO 100 between 300D and XTi.

[Statement]

But the sensor isn't necessarily bigger on a 10.1 mp camera, is it? Wouldn't that mean that the more megapixels you have, the bigger the frame you have?

[davidmigl]

No; its much like screen resolution. The frame is a certain size; there's no changing that. More megapixels is a same sized frame means smaller pixels.

[D. Craig Flory]

A big reason to crop is to get a regular photo size. Most digitals give an image size that scales down to a 12" X 8" image. To get to a normal photo size of 8x10 or 16X20 you need to crop. (that means using a program like Photoshop to crop proportionally. If you just change the size in image size it becomes distorted)

[cgratti]

That "Lady" doesn't have a clue. When can there be too many pixels, you can crop to 8X10 in Photoshop, 300dpi at least for printing.

Smaller pixels = more detail.

[lakiluno]

The only time more resolution becomes a bad point is when it adversely affects the noise created by the sensor - the closer the pixels are grouped, the more noise (as pixels generate heat when turned on, and if they are closer the heat from surrounding pixels can influence noise, etc)

[superdiver]

Maybe the "too many pixels" is forcing her have to print very large pictures to make her photos look like crap consistantly....LOL...