Pir Saheb, S400 is a 4 MP, whereas S50 is a 5 mp, I guess the lens in both the cameras is same with 3x optical zoom. S400 is a fully automatic point & shoot digital camera whereas S50 has lot of manual comtrol as well. S400 is very sleek and much lighter compared to S50.
Just click on this link to see the comparison. http://reviews.cnet.com/4504-6501_7-0.html?tag=pageNav&orderby=&pn=&qt=&id=20893303&id=20893290&x=42&y=10
Picture quality of both the cameras are very nice and I dont think you will be able to tell the difference.
What difference do megapixels make in the picture quality?
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Megapixel is like the size of a photo. High megapixel enable you to take an image containing large number of pixels which means the more pixels you have the sharper and more clear(or more detailed) image you'll get. But you don't need more than 2 MP (it was more than enough for me) if you're just gonna share them online or print them out in regular photo size... :)
more pixels make bigger prints.. not necessarily better prints. If all you need to do is share pictures over the web.. you don't need huge megapixels..
Printing at around 300dpi is supposed to be very good .... anything higher reaches the point of diminishing returns fast.
To print 4x6 at 300 dots per inch you'd need 1200x1800 size images that's 2.16 mega pixels.
To print 5x7 at the same dpi u'd need 1500x2100 = 3.15 Megapixels
To print 8x10's .. 2400x3000 = 7.2 Megapixels required
Ultimately what matters in a digital camera may not be the MP's it delivers but how good the color rendition is and how low the noise..
If you are gonna print pics out at 5"x7", then you don't really need 4MP camera, do you? Its a great misconception that if you have 4 or 5 Megapixel then the print quality is sharper. In one word: No. However, all megapixels are not created equally, so it depends on the quality of lens and photo-capturing mechanism of the camera. Just having more MP's don't mean anything, once you reduce the pic.
My monitor is 19". To view the whole pic at one time, my software resizes a 2 Megapixel pic to 67%. I really don't understand why people will take a 4 megapixel pic, cz you can't view it in one go and it takes a monster of memory space. In a larger resolution pic, the only advantage is that you can crop a smaller portion without distorting the quality, and thats pretty much about it.
For putting pics in online albums, I actually resize them to 640x480 (approx 100k/pic). Anything bigger will cause problems for folks to download, especially when they are downloading in slow-speed connections, like they have in Pakistan.
For simple home use, I'd stick with a 2 megapixel, and agar buhat hi dil chah raha hai ke paisay kharch karnay hein, then go for 3 Megapixel. Anything more is just a waste of money. Get better accessories (rechargable batteries, media card, tripod etc etc) for all the money you save.
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*Originally posted by Faisal: *
Why do you guys want a 4 Megapixel digicam? Are you in poster business?? Or do you watch your digital pics on a 60" widescreen television??
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errr, I make posters of some of my pics..therefore the posters are meaningful to me. except I cant tug along my SLR everywhere I go all the time.
so the pics hanging in my office are not some random pic bought from some store..even though it may be by a famous photographer but its meaningful to me, a great vacation, a fun road trip..a cool sight..
and yeah, not all pics will be enlarged, but then I want to have the ability to do that when i want to..kinda why ppl buy cars with great acceleration and top speed, even though they will be stuck in a gridlock most of the time..but when they want..and can use it..they have the ability to put the car through its paces.
Well if you wanna print pics on poster size, every now and then, then by all means go for 4 or 5 or 6 or even 10 Megapixels. Personally I will advise you to stick to film cameras when ever you have the urge to be printing posters for hanging in your home and office, as digicams will never give you the same quality as film, unless you go very very high end, in case you are planning to blow up the pics. Anyway, that how you will use your digicam, and no one disputes that. I am sure some people want to keep F1's and Ferraris in their garages because they sometime have the urge to drive at 250 mph. :)
My personal experience is that the only time I have actually printed pics taken from digicam is when I designed Eid greeting cards with the pics of my kids ... and even there I use PhotoShop extensively before sending the digital file over to the online printing house, and the actual pics are never more than 4x6 or 5x7.
So each of us may have a different reason, and unless someone is sure of their reason, just to go for a higher megapixel, thinking that it must be a better camera is a great misconception.
Fraudz, 4MP will not make posters.. not at 300dpi at least.
If the ability to enlarge is desired.. aim for more pixels or stick to film... there are some excellent point and shoots available for much less than a 4MP digital.
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*Originally posted by Baba G: *
Fraudz, 4MP will not make posters.. not at 300dpi at least.
If the ability to enlarge is desired.. aim for more pixels or stick to film... there are some excellent point and shoots available for much less than a 4MP digital.
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understood, I use a pretty suped up canon SLR for my more ambitious photography, however there are times when it is impossible to lug an SLR around, and a regular 35mm may be of value, except the advantage with a digital camera is that I can see the results right on the LCd and retake a shot if needed. To have that ability and to know that the digital print could still be expanded and have some decent picture quality, I will not have a problem spending an incremental amount over what one would pay for a 3 MP digicam. so maybe I need to go for a 5 MP digicam. the incremental diff between the price of a 3 Mp or a higher is okay.
^ Please go to your local Electronics store, Get a feel of both the cameras and if possible try taking a picure and print it. I guess both are nice cameras and you have to decide which one you like more.
If you are looking for a 4MP camera then try Canon S45 as well.
It's a stripped down version of the D10. As far as i can tell the CMOS chip and DIGIC image processing is identical to the D10; the exposure/focus/custom features being different. And the D10 chip per Popular Photography is THE BEST in color accuracy among ALL available Digital and Film SLRs. .. so I think for about $800 this will be a real film SLR killer.
Expect shipments in September.. maybe the reviewers will get demo models before that to post sample images.
People have already started lining up orders on waiting lists.
