[stevesw2]

I am looking at buying a fuji F20 or F30 but I am not sure if 6 mega pixels is going to be enough is there a big difference between 6,7 and 8. I will possibly be printing some A3 so will this be a problem using 6 mp.
Cheers

[T0MAT01]

I would doubt whether you be able to tell the difference if you had an A3 print from each camera sitting next to each other, so I wouldn't let it worry you too much.

From what I gather, the F30 has greater manual controls than the F20 so if that's what you think you'll need then choose the F30, if you'll be mainly shooting in Auto mode then the F20 is good too.

[Yandros]

With small sensor compact cameras, in general if you increase the number of pixels, you increase the noise. As each light sensitive site is slightly smaller, less light falls on it, so your signal to noise ratio gets worse. You'll also find that the resolving power of the sensor will exceed the resolving power of the optics on cheap cameras.

So, you end up with a bigger image that actually has no more real detail than the smaller equivalent. This is the great megapixel con that the marketing departments are inflicting on us. It's the same idiotic ploy that PC manufacturers have used for years. PC box shifters sell on the CPU speed, and totally ignore the subsystems like graphics cards.

The difference between 6 and 7 MP is tiny. Certainly 6MP is fine for A4, and seem to recall someone saying recently that it'll be ok for A3 as well.

[Zone]

Originally Posted by Yandros

The difference between 6 and 7 MP is tiny. Certainly 6MP is fine for A4, and seem to recall someone saying recently that it'll be ok for A3 as well.

And ok for much larger as well, remember the distance these larger pictures will be viewed from

[stevesw2]

Thanks for that information it helps alot just have to decide on a choice of these 3
PANASONIC FX7
PANASONIC FX1
FUJI F20
Could anyone make my mind up and help me make decision.
Cheers

[Steve N]

If you check on: http://www.dpreview.com/
You will see that the Panny FX1 is the favourite.

Originally Posted by Yandros

With small sensor compact cameras, in general if you increase the number of pixels, you increase the noise. As each light sensitive site is slightly smaller, less light falls on it, so your signal to noise ratio gets worse. You'll also find that the resolving power of the sensor will exceed the resolving power of the optics on cheap cameras.

So, you end up with a bigger image that actually has no more real detail than the smaller equivalent. This is the great megapixel con that the marketing departments are inflicting on us. It's the same idiotic ploy that PC manufacturers have used for years. PC box shifters sell on the CPU speed, and totally ignore the subsystems like graphics cards.

The difference between 6 and 7 MP is tiny. Certainly 6MP is fine for A4, and seem to recall someone saying recently that it'll be ok for A3 as well.

This info is 100% right. The most important factor, when it comes to image quality, is the size of the sensor, and cramming more minaturised pixels on to a physically small sensor is counter-productive.

If you want better image quality, go for a DSLR, which has a much larger sensor than any point and shoot - and forget about the number of pixels.

FWIW, the difference between 6 & 7MP is almost impossible to measure in real terms. If you wanted double the resolution of a 6MP camera (and had the corresponding increase in sensor size to make use of it) you would need to have 24MP

[dudeonline]

I would dipsute the comments about the dpreview results, unless I'm missing something!

Take a look at the compared to shots. Between the FX01 and the F20 and F10 the fujis are capturing more detail and have far less noise, something the reviewer acknowledges..

Personally the F30 or F20 would get my vote for the best images, but don't take my word for it, have a good look at the review of the panasonic.