Stop the megapixel madness

This is really nuts. The MHz madness in PCs caused some harm (diversion of design into meaningless numbers), but the megapixel madness in digital cameras is producing lousy pictures and driving out good cameras.

Sharp 10 megapixel 1/1.7" CCD: Digital Photography Review

As if noise and detail levels weren't bad enough from the latest batch of digital cameras based around the 8 megapixel Sharp CCD they've today announced one that crams even more pixels into tiny package. The RJ21W3BA0ET is a ten megapixel 1/1.7" CCD with 3766 horizontal and 2801 vertical pixels (total) and a pixel pitch of just 2.05 µm. We always kind of hope that the next compact sensor announcement will have some real innovation like higher sensitivity and lower noise but it appears as though market forces just want 'more megapixels'.

Friends shouldn't let friends buy these 10 mpixel monstrosities. Educate and warn! Six megapixels is probably as far as we can go with CCD technology on these small sensors. Which brings me to the new 6 mpixel image stabilized SONY ultra-compact. If I wasn't boycotting SONY due to their malignant incompetence, I'd be sorely tempted by this one.