Basic question - does a higher MP cam produce bigger picture files?

[pop]

What I mean is this. Take two cams, one say 3MP and the other 5MP. Both set to auto mode and just shoot the same scene, does the resulting picture on the 5MP cam have a larger file size? If so, is it increasing proportionately to the MP?

 

[uncleparty]

yes the higher the mp, the larger the picture dimensions.

in my opinion, the only two reasons for getting a higher mp cam, is if ur quite a cropping fanatic designer, or you print large prints.

assuming your pictures are printed on 240dpi, a 3 megapix pic (1512x2016) can print to a size of 6.3inches x 8.4inches.

your same picture, taken at 5mp has a image size of 1944x2592. which at 240dpi, can print at 8.1x10.8inches.

hope it helps.

 

[pop]

Thanks, uncleparty. But what about the size of the file?

Currently I'm using a canon ixus 330, which is only 2.1MP, but am thinking of getting either an A95 or a sony W5, both are 5MP.

I usually just use auto mode and for my 2.1M cam, the picture files are usually about 1MB in size already. If I use a 5MP cam, would the picture file be twice as much or more?

 

[judeseah]

same scene, same compression,
the size won't be directly proportional.

this is due to JPEG working.
it WILL be bigger, but not 60% larger.

 

[uncleparty]

from my experience last time when i had a 5mp, yes, ur file size is gonna be ard 2.5mb.

the size of the file depends on the amount of detail/info captured in the file. so diff files diff kb.

but i think it also depends on the make of ur cam... my nikon 8800 (8mp) shoots an average shot about 2.8 to 3.2mb. my d70 (6mp) also shoots ard 2.6 to 3.2mb. not much diff in size also leh...

 

[scramblur11]

I using A95 and when I using the best resolution (Large/Superfine), it gave ard 1.8M - 2.5M size....depend on the darkness and brightness I Tink....

since ur ixus is using compactflash rite?...maybe u can consider using back A95....nt a bad cam....but abit on the heavy side....compare to ur ixus... just my opinion...

 

[pop]

Thanks for sharing.

The reason why I ask this question is because so far, with my ixus 330, whenever I travel (mostly less than a week trip), I can make do with just 2 CF cards, 128MB & 64MB, in other words total 192 MB.

But if I'm gonna get a 5MP cam, looks like I must at least get a 512MB card to be enough.

 

[cereal]

Dun worry too much about storage, price are dropping every now and then.. impt thing is that it can take nice pictures..

Thanks for sharing.

The reason why I ask this question is because so far, with my ixus 330, whenever I travel (mostly less than a week trip), I can make do with just 2 CF cards, 128MB & 64MB, in other words total 192 MB.

But if I'm gonna get a 5MP cam, looks like I must at least get a 512MB card to be enough.

 

[nyxhimaerax]

Some cameras maintain a fixed amount of JPEG compression for every shot taken at a particular image quality setting so the file size will depend on the complexity of the scene taken. Others like the d70 try to have around the same size for a particular quality setting by varying the level of compression used so it'll be easier to estimate the number of shots that can be taken before the memory card is full.

A shot taken at 5MP with high compression can have a smaller file size than one at 3MP with minimal compression.