This is an interesting story, via Lockergnome. Apparently, staff photographers for the Chicago tribune use .. not medium format, not 35 mm, not even the 25k hasselblads, but make do with 3 megapixel Nikon D1H SLRs for Print! Megapixels .. A myth? ...

Your new 8 megapixel not doing it for you? Tom Watson has  has rigged up up a large-format camera with a BetterLight scanning back to generate massive 144 megapixel images. Unlike the gigapixel projects underway, this process does not require hours of post processing - plus you can look like a cool old school photographer tell every one to look at the birdie.. ...

So 8 Megapixels is the new sweet spot for digital cameras with most of them available for under $750- time to update our tag line! Better, shutter responses, image stabilization, cheaper memory cards and better image processing… we are officially in the "next" generation of digital photogrpahy.  8 megapixel makes for a great upgrade from the 3-4 megapixel, "previous generation" and given than there are not that many 16 megapixel cameras around the corner, you can be rest assured that a purchase now should last you 3 years or so. David Pogue looks at some of the offerings. Remember though, if you are cross shopping any of these with a digital SLR, the SLR will beat most of these hands down even with slightly lower pixel count (larger sensors), but for general purpose use, occasional video and other conveniences, this group is hard to beat. Use www.bugmenot.com if you don't want to sign up for NYTimes. ...

If it strikes you as odd, that the $1000 6 Megapixel Nikon D70s takes far better pictures than your average $400 8 Megapixel Zoom Crazy Point & Shoot, it is time to learn about sensor sizes and the nuances of CCDs and CMOS photo sensors. In this case, size matters. SLRs like the Nikon D70, Digital Rebel and above have 23.7mm X 15.5 mm and larger sensors; a regular camera (Sony!) has a 8.8 by 6.6mm sensor which  cannot capture all of what is called Dynamic Range. The dirty little secret of digital camera sensors is that they  capture only monochromatic light intensity, and  due to some technical wizardary (hack!) of putting colored glasses, can they guess what color might be relevant for that pixel. This interpolation, it is pretty messy - really - the good news is that larger sensors(SLRs) do a far better job of capturing the light intensity and thus color accuracy. The geeks in the audience can compare this to the dying art of comparing different CPU ...

Looks like the mega pixel race might be taking a break. Camera makers are now focussing on adding features we can actually use, larger LCDs in the back (upto 3 inches), Wifi, Image Stabilization, sub $100 cameras, and of course, mpeg4 video. Consider the 3 CCD (sensors) JVC GZ-MC500, that can take 5 megapixel images and 720x480 DVD quality video. One feature that is sorely lacking are good wide angle lens options. Many of the pictures consumers take, can use a nice wide angle lens - but tele zooms look impressive in the store.  Ever notice, how annoying it is to get people into a DV Cams which all seem to have 20x zooms? Yet, digital  cameras continue to push towards 10x, 12x zooms that start at about 40mm (not good). There are a few exceptions however, like the Nikon 8400. Here are a couple of articles on features and performance trends at the PMA last month. Convergence Beyond Megapixels ...

IDC issued a report today claiming to refute the "camera phone myth." In other words, camera phones won't be replacing digital cameras any time soon as some experts their competitors ABI Research have predicted. Surprise, surprise. I think pretty much everyone realized that ABI's report was overly optimistic, to say the least: digital imaging technology is moving quickly these days, but two years from August 10th was declaring a very premature death. On the other hand, IDC seems a little off base here, too. Today's numbers are focused mainly on printing: since people don't print camera phone pictures, camera phones won't replace digital cameras. First, we know printing trends are far from stabilizing. Second, just because people don't print from current phones doesn't mean they won't print from future phones (printing and MMS interoperability were two of the preconditions for a camera phone revolution cited by ABI). And finally, previous studies took into account wourldwide trends, while IDC ...

The Panorama feature of most digital cameras is perhaps the most under utilized feature available. Most digital cameras have poor wide-angle focal length. Panoramas effectively eliminate your wide-angle handicap by allowing you to take shots of the entire landscape and then stitch the parts together. Alas, the stitch function and software in most cameras is a manual process and is altogether missing in many digital SLRs. Enter, Autostitch - download this lightweight stitcher, point it to a directory of images that need to be stitched and watch it work its magic. Another cool benefit of stitching, taking 20 megapixel images from your 5 megapixel camera! Just take 4 shots and stitch them together and you a nice detailed, wide angle 20 megapixel shot - no more megapixel envy.   Here is a before and after shot with the final result at the bottom. ...

What is a good time to upgrade your digital camera? Unlike computers, there is no XP that drives you to upgrade your humble  486. While there is no point going to a 7 megapixel from a 6 megapixel (make sure you get at least twice .. if not 50% more to make different) ,  there are other reasons., newer digicams (esp. SLRs) have made huge improvements in shutter lag compared to top end models from two years ago. ...

A great day for Fujifilm fans. The company introduced three new cameras today, two of which enter the nine-megapixel arena (the E900 @ $500 and S9000 @ $700), the third (S5200 @ $400) will sport 5.1 megapixels. All three cameras have RAW format support and what the company calls "TV-quality" VGA movie recording. Great prices for what looks like some excellent technology. ...

A 'fun toy' they proclaim it; I call it frightening! The ability to age a picture of a face... Face Transformer Ricoh have released a new firmware version, 1.09, for the Ricoh GR Digital, an 8 megapixel compact digicam and for the Ricoh Caplio R3, a 5 megapixel compact camera. Ricoh Downloads. Amateur food photographers may be interested in the flickr group Foodography. Now moving on to round 2 with Dairy as the theme. ...

This high performance 6.0-megapixel digital camera features a built-in 12x optical Mega Zoom lens, Konica Minolta's anti-shake system, rapid autofocus (AF), and excellent battery performance  Mahwah, NJ (August 19, 2005) – Konica Minolta Photo Imaging U.S.A., Inc. introduces the new 6.0-megapixel DiMAGE Z6 digital camera. This camera offers a built-in 12x optical Mega Zoom lens, Konica Minolta's proprietary Anti-Shake system, Rapid AF with Predictive Focus Control for fast overall responsiveness, built-in flash and excellent battery performance. "The combination of advanced imaging features within the new DiMAGE Z6 digital camera allows photographers to take exceptionally crisp, sharp photographs in virtually any picture-taking situation," said Paul Zakrzewski, Director of Product Management for Konica Minolta Photo Imaging U.S.A., Inc. ...

This is not coming off a fancy analyst, but from a survey of consumers- 56% of whom believe that Cameraphones will be the primary picture takers for the most of us. With about 79% of women using their cameraphones to take pictures, clearly, convenience trumps megapixels and fancy lenses. ...

They are not giving much away - More Power, More Control, More Versatile and More Excitement. And thats it. Nikon are to release a new camera in 19 days. Rumours suggest it will be a 10.2 megapixel replacement for the D70/D70s series. ...

As we've said, probably the most important thing to take into consideration when purchasing digital equipment is output format: the goal in any purchase is to have a finished product that looks as good as possible. Decide what's important to you. Do you need high resolution for enlargements or substantial cropping? Great color saturation for on-screen display, or maybe magazine work? Clarity for paper prints? High contrast for black and white work? All of the above? Once you figure that out, find a camera that gives you the best of what you need in your price range. Sounds simple enough. But how do the main big features of digital cameras-megapixels, sensor size, and image handling-fit into the picture, and how do figure out what you actually need to get the results you want? ...

For that second camera, look no further than these cool offerings from Kodak and Nikon. Kodak recently introduced he Easyshare V series - with built in Image  Stabilization and a 2.5 inch LCD in the back, 5 megapixel and 80 minutes of video. A very complete package.. Over at Nikon, they are playing catch up to Sony's T3 - so now you can have the fancy looking camera without selling your soul to the memory stick. Same recipe, 5 megapixel, 2.5 inch LCD, Nikkor ED lenses.. ...