Fuji X E-2 16M is it enough megapixels?

Fuji X E-2, ISO 6400, ƒ/3.2, 1/50 handheld

Can the Fuji X E-2 16M sensor do the job for a working pro?

As you can see in the photo above the quality is there for available light shooting full frame, but when people are asking about if 16M sensor is good enough they want to see the photo at 100%.

100% view of the image above

This is low light situation the way many street photographers and photojournalist would capture their images. If you are shooting a commercial job then you would most likely be shooting with a low ISO.

Fuji X E-2, ISO 200, ƒ/18, 1/180

Here is a portrait of my daughter shot with the Fuji X E-2.  Again the question is what about at 100%.

100% view of the photo above.

From my perspective it would be a rare moment that any of my clients would ever need anything with more megapixels than this camera gives me.

Now when my lab is telling me that if your camera is an 6M size sensor and they can make any size print from this file size then it would appear that 16M is more than sufficient.

PPRPix Tips

So I wasn't surprised to hear from Hiroshi Kawahara, Fujifilm's Operations Manager also say that 16M was enough.


If the other camera manufacturer's do not learn from what Fuji is doing they will be crushed by them. What is important to listen to in the interview is how even while they think 16M is enough, they still listen to the customer and are researching to improve the megapixels.

One of the coolest things about Fujifilm is there firmware upgrades for all their cameras. They continue to upgrade their cameras because they are listening to the customer. The firmware upgrades for the cameras make them even better.  For the most part if you want the latest design for a camera with other manufacturers they you must buy they latest camera. While you might think this could hurt sales, it is doing just the opposite for Fuji.

Conclusion: The Fuji X E-2 exceeds the needs of my clients right now. It is a camera I am shooting now for corporate jobs.

Your camera choice does make a difference

Nikon P7000 ISO 3200, ƒ/4, 1/65

While on our cruise through the Caribbean we did some ice skating on the cruise ship. The first time we went I took my point and shoot and got some photos.

As you can see in the photo above I got a decent photo of my lovely wife Dorie.  I didn't want to use flash so you could see the ice rink.

I had a lot of blurry photos due to I could not get above 3200 without changing the resolution on the camera.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 12,800, ƒ/5, 1/60

The next time some of the family went ice skating again I took my Nikon D4 and shot some photos as well.

There are a couple of things I think worth comparing. First of all the Nikon D4 @ ISO 12,800 looks better than the Nikon P7000 @ ISO 3200.

This is the reason I own a Nikon D4.  The sensor on the Nikon P7000 is CCD and the Nikon D4 is CMOS. The CCD has more of an electrical charge going that actually creates a noise as compared to the CMOS.

The size of the actual sensor also impacts the quality of the image. I am talking about the physical size and not the megapixels. The Nikon P7000 has a 14.9mm width CCD sensor size. The Nikon D4 has a 36mm width CMOS sensor.

If the megapixels were equal just having more space on a sensor helps spread out the sensors and cuts down on the noise created.  Just think of how your AM radio is impacted when you drive near power lines and you hear a buzz.  This is the major advantage for right now between the larger sensor and the smaller.  The larger the sensor the less noise.

CCD stands for Charged Coupling Devices.  They have been around a long time. CMOS stands for Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor.  They are a newer technology.

The biggest difference is CMOS sensors are already superior to CCD sensors in terms of power consumption. You get a much longer battery life out of a CMOS camera, which means you can take more pictures.

How many megapixels do you need?

Now let me try and clear up this megapixel dilemma.

My first digital camera was a 6 megapixel CCD sensor camera. I made 16 x 20 prints that are still hanging in my home. These were shot with studio lights giving me the best quality and I like the quality of the prints.

The general rule of thumb is this, if you are not making prints bigger than 16 x 20 then any 8 megapixel camera or more will work just fine.

If you like to make bigger prints or you tend to need to crop your photos then getting more megapixels will benefit you.  However, for most people who are posting their photos primarily on social media websites, most any camera will do. This is why so many people are using their camera phones today instead of carrying another camera. Most of the latest phones have 8 megapixel cameras and that will work well for most of them.

For the Geek

Now for those of you who like to talk about how many millimeters your lens will resolve then you can go and get those specs on any camera you might want to buy here at http://www.dxomark.com/.

As you can see there is a big difference in the specs on these two cameras. I hope so, because the Nikon D4 sells for $6,000 and the Nikon P7000 sold for $500.

Nikon paid attention to these scores and improved them and the most recent version of the Nikon P7000 is the P7700.

Summary

If you just do general shooting then buying the high end camera is just overkill.  However, if you like shooting in low light inside then you just might need to consider something like the Nikon D4 to capture those images.

Your camera choice does make a difference in the quality of the image, but it is the photographer who makes a difference as to if the images are truly captivating to the audience.