The megapixel wars are over and the winner is...

[StewartR]

... Sony.

Let me explain.

We've just had a big new branch of Sainsbury's open in my home town. (For non-UK readers, Sainsbury's is the 2nd or 3rd biggest supermarket chain in the UK.) The local advertising says that this is - for the time being, at least - Sainsbury's "flagship" store, and we'll be getting new products ahead of the rest of the country. Fair enough, but I certainly didn't expect to see this:

http://StewartR.smugmug.com/photos/138073018-L.jpg

[manipula]

Erm, am I missing something? Sony in 8Mp over-priced naff compact shocker!??

[poloman]

WOW!! Is that 8.1 TERRApixels?
Sony must have come out with some incredible memory sticks!!! ;)

[StewartR]

Erm, am I missing something?Yes.

[manipula]

Ah, yes, I see what I missed. Doh. Sack the Saturday lad who makes up the point of sale... ;)

[gjl711]

A million million. Hmmm. Wonder what the noise profile must be with a pixel density like that. 50,000 pixels per sq. MM is one thing, but 50,000,000 is quite another. ;):)

[BillMarks]

A million million--that's a British billion isn't it?

[rhys]

64 mb internal memory for an 8.1 terrapixel camera? seems a bit small!

Given that each megapixel usually means 1 megabyte of storage I'd say you'd need a terrabyte just for one image unless they use severe compression.

[StewartR]

A million million. Hmmm. Wonder what the noise profile must be with a pixel density like that. 50,000 pixels per sq. MM is one thing, but 50,000,000 is quite another. ;):)Actually the sensor size according to DPReview is 7.18x5.32mm, so we're looking at 212,000,000,000 pixels per sq mm. I suspect it would be a tad noisy.

[Hermeto]

Anything is possible, especially if we disregard reality.. ;)

[Richard_Miami]

Hey.. it comes with a wrist strap!! I had to pay extra to get mine..!

[Mark Kemp]

Do you think theres enough pixels for an A3 print ?

[StewartR]

Do you think theres enough pixels for an A3 print ?Well, if they next unveil a printer that's capable of 300,000,000 dpi, then probably not.

[Double Negative]

Next will be...

"One beeeeelion." - Dr. Evil

[Adaptive]

holy crap 8.1 million megapixels !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Miyagi-san]

eh, run it through noise ninja.....sony leads the way!! :)

[breal101]

Buy it now while they are still on sale and before the word gets out.

[soccersnaps]

I understand after seeing this post, canon have withdrawn the 1dmk3 from sale.

[AJSJones]

Thise pixels will be too small for photons to get into, so all the images will be black :)

[Madweasel]

A million million--that's a British billion isn't it?
It is indeed, but now pretty-well fallen out of use due to overpowering exposure to, and confusion with, the American billion of one thousand million (one milliard in Continental European usage). The British system always seemed to make sense to me: million million = billion; million million million = trillion, but who am I to stand in the way of common usage? :)

[gjl711]

Thise pixels will be too small for photons to get into, so all the images will be black :) I'm sure they have thought of that and the camera comes equiped with the quantum photonic wormhole microlens. ;)

[johneo]

64 mb internal memory for an 8.1 terrapixel camera? seems a bit small!

Given that each megapixel usually means 1 megabyte of storage I'd say you'd need a terrabyte just for one image unless they use severe compression.

Sony has always been very good at "severe compression". I have a Sony Mavica FD-91 that could fit 10-12 1024x768 photos on a floppy disk :)

[Longwatcher]

Either Sony has redifined the term "Mega" or they are using The Doctor's technology. given it is only in UK, this is quite possible.

If you really need a hint, "Who" do you think the doctor is.

[segasaturn]

I didn't see it until I read further down. Funny.

Isn't a million million = trillion?
1,000,000,000,000?

[joegolf68]

Wow!!!!!!! Not really.

[BradT0517]

and only 249.99 sign me up.

[Morgandy]

and only 249.99 sign me up.


That's in British pounds, not U.S. dollars. :) Current conversion: $490.53

[Richard_Miami]

It is indeed, but now pretty-well fallen out of use due to overpowering exposure to, and confusion with, the American billion of one thousand million (one milliard in Continental European usage). The British system always seemed to make sense to me: million million = billion; million million million = trillion, but who am I to stand in the way of common usage? :)

ahhhhhhhh.. youse guys tawk funny anyways

[BradT0517]

That's in British pounds, not U.S. dollars. :) Current conversion: $490.53

Yea I know but that is still good for 8.1 tera pixels even if it is Sony.

[Jon Smith]

That's the metric system for ya, always screwing things up! :)

[Glenn NK]

That's the metric system for ya, always screwing things up! :)

Nothing at all to do with the metric system; it's the decimal system that's to blame.

In engineering school, the term was "damn the decimal".

They just slipped by a few of them.;) ;)

[CyberDyneSystems]

By the by, terrapixel would be 1,000 million as well, like terra-byte.. no?

A million million would be 100,000 terrapixels..

[ayotnoms]

8 million megapixels??
Finally. The resolution to create the fine detail lacking on highway billboards.
:)

[StewartR]

By the by, terrapixel would be 1,000 million as well, like terra-byte.. no?

A million million would be 100,000 terrapixels..No.
1,000 million bytes/pixels = 1,000 megabytes/megapixels = 1 gigabyte/gigapixel
1,000,000 million bytes/pixels = 1,000,000 megabytes/megapixels = 1,000 gigabytes/giapixels = 1 terabyte/terapixel

This Sony is [allegedly] 8 terapixels.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Ahh in Hard drives, I forgot that MB was a million of something in the same way that an MP is a million pixels.. .. Duh!

[rammy]

Trade descriptions act, use it!! Don't ask for your money back, ask for the product as described!!

[StewartR]

Trade descriptions act, use it!! Don't ask for your money back, ask for the product as described!!I was hoping Sainsbury's would have some sort of "total satisfaction or double your money back" guarantee, but if they have then I haven't been able to find it...:D

[Ainoko]

IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAND!

[DavidEB]

let's see.... 8 x 10e12 pixels. and the sensor is about 4x7 mm. That's about 3 x 10e11 pixels per sq mm, so a pixel is alittle under 2 x 10e -12 meters, less that 1/100 the "size" of a hydrogen atom.

[tommy_london]

It'll be cheaper in Tesco's.

[CyberDyneSystems]

I tried this camera, it was soft...

[kram]

No need for any telephone lenses anymore. Just keep cropping ;)

[rhys]

So we now have subatomic sensors? Does that mean that they're good for macrophotography? I need to take some photos of Quarks and the like. Any chance this camera will do that for me?

[Stavhp]

Who needs zoom with a camera like that?
Like who needs a job with a mac ? LOL :D


Stav

[JSolie]

I tried this camera, it was soft...

Just hold it up to the back of a 100-400... that'll fix the softness. And you might want to hold the camera upside down so the picture orients correctly... :rolleyes: