So, I'm talking to a friend recently retired from Olympus.

[flamin lib]

I comment that I've enjoyed using the electronic 2X converter built into the OM D cameras. I know it basically takes a 5 mplx image and re-sizes it to 20 mpxl and I can't see any real degradation in Image Quality, but then back in 2002 all the camera makers promoted 5 mpxl as the "professional standard" for resolution.

After a pregnant silence he replied, "It's not the pixels, it's the picture."

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. So.........what did he mean by that?

I'm not proficient in tech talk, so what did he mean?

[flamin lib]

5. No, Peg, you understand it perfectly BECAUSE you're not bogged down in

specs, resolution and all that jazz. It's the picture. The image. The contact it makes with the viewer. The bridge between information and emotion. The difference between prose and poetry.

You know I'm a gear-head; deeply involved in equipment, technique and the mechanics of photography. Every now and then somebody says something that sort of grabs me by the collar, shakes me and reminds me what really matters.

It's not the pixels, it's the picture.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. Ah, thank you, my dear flamin lib. Now I get it.

[stopdiggin]

2. lost me too (nt)

[CountAllVotes]

3. I have an old Olympus digital camera

I bought it on ebay to get the extra cards that came with it for a hefty $2.50.

It takes great pictures, so good that I managed to get my picture taken to renew my passport online.

It takes 16 pictures at one time. You have to format the camera after that and start again, hence the reason for needing more cards for it (I had another one that was made in China and it was not near the quality -- this one is made in Japan and you don't need any software to use it).



Sad to see Olympus go.

And yes, its all in the picture alright!

[flamin lib]

4. Oly isn't gone but things will change.

Nobody knows exactly how much they will change or what the changes will look like but the brand will survive. I'm not concerned and will continue to invest in the equipment.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Very likely they'll sell the photo line-- it has some unique features...

some one may want.

Meanwhile, they'll still make money with lab equipment.

[flamin lib]

9. Oh, yeah! The imaging division is only 3% of company revenues.

I'm surprised they're bothering with a sale. They should just write off the 'loss' as R&D and wait for better times.

[pansypoo53219]

6. he is so right. it is the picture. still using a 10mp/12mp. haven't gone above 16mp.

but i miss 35mm experiments and shit i could do w/ crappy 110 mini plastic free cameras. i have some cool car pics w/ my 110.

[TreasonousBastard]

8. I had a cheap 4MP Canon pocket camera that I could easily enlarge to...

20x24 with some tweaking. It died and I got another one, at least 8MP and the picture quality sucked.

The thing is that squeezing all those pixels into the same size chip means lots of in-camera processing, and corners tend to be cut.

I Have an older 12MP Nikon SLR that was a pro camera when it first came out, and it is almost the equal of my newer 24MP Nikon.

[flamin lib]

10. That is the point. 5 mpxl is better resolution than Kodachrome 64 and I have

thousands of K64 images.

After awhile I was amused at the marketing of pixel count. OLY stayed with 5 long after the others went to 10, 15, 24 because they thought bigger pixels made better imagery. The marketing was "more pixels, more resolution". Then the crop sensor cameras matched ff pixel count and it was "same count but bigger pixels are better", the same argument Oly made back in 2005.

Bottom line is it makes no difference if we make boring pictures.

[pansypoo53219]

12. my8mpgood.ergonomicspacebarfail.