Re: [OT] Digital Cameras

On Thu, 05 Apr 2001 10:19:25 +1000, Derek Fulton
<derekfulton@bigpond.com>
wrote:

>I read that 1 megapixels is equivalent to 100 speed ISO film, the more 
>pixels the better resolution.

I'm not sure where you got that idea from but it's not even CLOSE to
accurate.
Sorry, Derek.

Photographic film is usually given in lines per inch or lines per
millimetre
resolution. Good quality ISO 100 film is around 4000 to 5000 lines per
inch. A
1 megapixel display can handle 1200 by 900 pixels. In the same aspect
ratio,
ISO 100 film is closer to 4000 by 3000, or 12 megapixels. (This is just
a
rough calculation. A 35mm negative is wider than an inch, so there are
actually 5500 to 6900 lines across on a negative, but I'm not sure how
many
lines down. I'm not sure of a 35mm negative's aspect ratio.)

So, digital cameras are still a ways off to compare with 35mm SLRs. The
problem I found with digitals in the sub $1000 range is that they are
too
slow. Even if the resolution is high, the speed is slow. My brother, a
professional photographer, is looking at a digital that can handle
1/1000 of a
second exposures, but it's over $5000. Which is awesome, considering
anything
remotely close to this was over $10,000 a couple years ago.

Allan Goodall		       awg@sympatico.ca
Goodall's Grotto:  http://www.vex.net/~agoodall

"Now, see, if you combine different colours of light,
 you get white! Try that with Play-Doh and you get
 brown! How come?" - Alan Moore & Kevin Nolan,