Nikon D80 'bad' for 8x10's

condyk wrote in post #2205183
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.

jordan.meeter wrote in post #2203099
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.

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?

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.

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)

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.

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)

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