I voted 8 because that is the mp of the lowest level DSLR I consider to be in the "pro body" class and that is the 350-D. In fact I asked around on at least three photo boards and was told that the 350-D was the lowest level camera I could buy and still be in good company with my pictures.
I previously owned an HP Photosmart - 320 P&S that only had 2 mp and on a computer screen you could not eaisly tell the difference in its pics and the 350-D pics for resolution. I actually posted an autumn leaf shot from the HP P&S and when my son in another state saw it he asked when I got my new 350-D.
The reason I did move up to the DSLR is that I did want to do some work that the P&S would not handle.
21+ for me. I wish the 1Ds3 was 24mp, it would be easier to rationalize it's purchase. 16.7 for my current 1Ds2 isn't bad, not at all. But the jump to 21 isn't that much compared to 24.
I do 20x30 and larger pretty often, so the more the better. I feel the noise is handled much better on the 1Ds2.
20d's 8mp has printed 30x40 just fine for me. Printed the same with a 5d and the print looked slightly better. The more mp the better. I love excess detail.
I chose 12mp. I shoot with d200's now and often do significant cropping becuase I can't afford the 300mm 2.8 lens I really "should" have. Sometimes Ill get a customer that wants a 16x20 from a D200 pic that's been cropped by half and there is "not so much" detail in the face.
Im playing with a betterlight scanning back for 4x5 large format that is pretty crazy. 144mp? The files are 108mb each. the image quality is stunning to say the least. I wish I could keep it, it's on loan from my school. It's a shame Iv only had time to shoot school work with it, product boxes and jewelry. boring stuff.
Ghost wrote:
It is sad that even my wife's P&S Powershot A640 has more MP than my 30d.
But your camera will produce much, much better quality prints. Bigger sensors are a very good thing when it comes to image quality. Plus more MP does not mean better quality. For example - I replaced my S60 with an S70 [S60 had fallen apart, it had a tough life!] and the only difference is the S70 has 7 MP Vs the S60's 6MP. The S60 produced much nicer and less noisey images.
