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On February 2nd, 2006, the New York Times published an article by David Pogue (registration needed to see it here) where it foresaw the end of the Megapixel race in compact digital cameras.

Even C. Westfall, director of media for Canon’s camera marketing group had this to say about it: “In compact cameras, I think that the megapixel race is pretty much over, (…) Seven- and eight-megapixel cameras seem to be more than adequate. We can easily go up to a 13-by-19 print and see very, very clear detail.”

He was right on the printing part, but nothing else. Since the dawn of digital photography, the consumer has been given the idea that the megapixel numbers of a camera is it’s more important feature, the highest the better.

This trend slowed down when the 6-8 Megapixel limit was reached and camera manufacturers had to compete outside of Megapixel numbers and started actually investing more in other features to pack their cameras with, like battery life and bigger LCDs.

But now still, the magical number for the average consumer is still the MP. Would an upgrade from 300 to 350 shots per charge make you buy the new model? Probably not, but if the MP number goes up by 2 or 3…

So Mr. Westfall, the megapixel race is healthy and better than ever… You missed by a mile on that one. If not, let’s see just two small examples:

• On the 21st of May, Casio announced its new model of compact digital camera, the Casio Exilim EX-Z1200SR packing 12.1 effective megapixels on a 1/1.7″ CCD sensor.
• On the 21st of May (same day as above), Panasonic introduces to the world the Lumix DMC-FX100 with 12.2 effective megapixels again on a 1/1.7″ CCD sensor, and enough for Panasonic to claim on the press-release “The world’s first 12.2-Megapixel digital camera with 28mm wide-angle lens…”

If this is not a race, then I have no idea what a race is.

What are your thoughts on it?
Are megapixels still the most important factor for a consumer when choosing a compact digital camera?
And in the future, will the megapixel race still go on?

• Remember the post “Story behind the image” from some time back to spread the word on Jim’s project? A week ago he published the links to the 21 photos and stories submitted. It gives for some interesting reading with very beautiful photos. It’s curious to see what makes a photographer want to freeze a moment.

 

• Thinking about upgrading your camera? Sushee at Photography Tip published an article going through some questions you should ask yourself before making that decision.

 

• As you might have seen in the post “Are Digital Cameras destroying photography?” I’m an vigorous adept of learning how a camera works and planning a photo before taking the shot. Wingerz has a nice review of the major things you should know about your camera settings and how they influence the outcome of the photo. Although is a somewhat simplistic approach, if you know this things you are on the right track to learn much more.