I used to scoff at people who spent gobs of money on a 9 or 10 megapixel camera simply because they felt, “the higher the better.” These people would often loose out on great features or niceties because the blew all of their cash on the CCD. Didn’t they know that 6 megapixels were plenty for a great 5×7 print, and a pretty damn good 8×10? Now I find myself in that crowd.
I’ve been doing some photography work over the last few days, plowing through last years images, and doing more post-processing now than I’ve ever done before. I’m beginning to realize that, while 6 megapixels may be fine for a straight off the camera image, it’s terrible for one that’s been cropped and adjusted. Some of my pictures have been reduced to the equivalent of a 2 megapixel camera, and make for ugly, pixelized prints. I have neither the space nor need to work in RAW 100% of the time, so I’m left using full size JPEGs with the “fine” compression setting on my D70. These are not holding up well after post processing.
So, I’m looking over my used photo gear, and doing some math. I think I could sell my D70, my old FE2 (sad, but I never use it) and few older lenses for about $800. That’s pretty much the cost of a D80 body, which would give me 10 megapixels and a lot more breathing room. Plus, I get all the other new features and settings they’ve added. This will be tricky, as I must not expend any real cash on this. With a baby on the way and Christmas bills still being paid off, I don’t have any the spare. Hey, at least I’m not after a D2X!