So what started the 12 Megapixel frenzy?

Some time ago... about 6 years ago, OK...I shot and edited this view near Nieu Bethesda in South Africa's Eastern Cape Karoo. This was shot on a previous Canon EOS 5D Mk1 with an EF 16-35mm L Mk 1 at 23mm.

I was quite surprised to see detail in the image I did not even see as I made the image.

Sure, newer is better, there is simply no denying that. My question is just, when is newer really better and when do we go from much more than adequate to simply crazy. Then there is the matter of paying dearly for newer and better when newer and better is not really needed. When is it really needed? That entirely depends on your needs and your willingness to part with your hard-earned cash.

Above is a 100% crop from the off-camera CR-2 Raw file. Absolutely no alterations were made other than cropping a 600 pixel x 600 pixel block out of the image and saving it as a jpeg.

With one or two basic enhancements it looks like this.

Now, having seen this, have another look at the bigger image...

Yes, granted, newer is better. This is especially true for low light performance. My question however, if this is not enough detail for a print up to A0, what would be?

And now back to a more recent image.

Please note the red circle in the following image.

This was shot recently with my latest Canon EOS 5D Mk1 using Canon's EF 50mm f/1.4 USM. This lens is over 20 years old in design but still delivers bitingly sharp images.

The exposure was 10 seconds at f/11 at ISO 50. A polariser was used. It could be argued that the addition of a filter in front of the lens could degrade image quality. By how much is probably a very interesting question, though. I am not convinced that image quality degradation caused by the polariser is measurable outside some optical laboratory using specialised equipment.

What follows is an exercise similar to the one above with the Nieu Bethesda image.

What you are looking at is a 600 pixel x 600 pixel crop from a 100% view of the above image in Photoshop CC 2017.

If this is not enough detail for anyone but the most discerning billboard-printing professional I do not know what would be. Sure, some jpeg artefacts are visible around the lights but do remember that this is a jpeg save of a jpeg save of a jpeg save. That is hardly the best possible workflow.

In the meantime I am still waiting for more decent shooting weather at the right time. I have a lens on loan from a good friend but this deal is not open-ended...

I would not mind if she forgot about the lens but I somehow doubt that would happen.

Also on the cards are some recent developments. There is the possibility of a 51Mp Canon EOS 5DS or DSR joining this shootout. There is also a 35Mp Nikon D810 stepping in.

Now I also know a local 46Mp Nikon D850 owner. I wonder if he would be interested to play along.

12Mp vs 12Mp vs 22Mp vs 35Mp vs 46Mp vs 51Mp might get really interesting...

Happy shooting!

Anton.