Have you ever wondered why the D200 sensor is 10.2mp?

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Have you ever wondered why the D200 sensor is 10.2mp?

Postby johndec on Wed Apr 19, 2006 10:17 pm

No, I don't suppose you have. Neither did I until recently. Whilst waiting,waiting and still waiting for Nikwell TM :lol: to actually supply my D200, I've been toying with the idea of buying a Medium Format camera so I could take some "enlargable" pictures.

I'd looked at the various options and settled on the 645 format (roughly the same percentage dimensions of common paper, A4,A3,A3+, etc). A used MF camera and film scanner from ebay was going to set me back a minimum of $1000. I also worked out that it is unlikely I'd ever print larger than A3+ which is 13'' x 19" as that is as large as my epson printer will go.

After a lot of trolling through the internet I realised that although film can be scanned to a Gazillion DPI if you have enough money, a consumer scanner like the Epson 4990 (fine tool that it is) even at maximum resolution doesn't really do a better job than a 10-12 mp DSLR even with 120 (medium format) film. I also realised that at A3+, 200dpi final resolution is perfectly acceptable for framing and hanging.

To those that have read this far, hang in there, I'm coming to the point. :shock:

As I don't yet own one of these mythical D200s, I downloaded a sample NEF of the internet, opened it in Photoshop and cropped it to 13" x 19" dimensions. Guess what. That comes out at exactly 199.368 pixels per inch! Coincedence? I think not! Turns out that Nikon knows their target market pretty well...

Ramble over. :lol:
If I'm alone in a forest and my wife is not around to hear what I say, am I still wrong ??
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Postby nito on Wed Apr 19, 2006 10:22 pm

there was an interview of a nikon engineer which basically said that 10 Mp is the limit for the consumer lenses. Any more and you need pro stuff, which may turn the prosumer off.
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Postby johndec on Wed Apr 19, 2006 10:55 pm

Either way,they chose that number for a reason, although I can't understand why anyone would drop $2.5K on a D200 and then stick $200 lenses on the damm thing.. :lol:
If I'm alone in a forest and my wife is not around to hear what I say, am I still wrong ??
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Postby PiroStitch on Wed Apr 19, 2006 11:20 pm

So you're saying the D200 captures images at 200dpi? :?
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Postby johndec on Thu Apr 20, 2006 12:06 am

PiroStitch wrote:So you're saying the D200 captures images at 200dpi? :?


Perhaps I didn't make myself clear earlier. Yes, when the original image is enlarged to 13"x 19" it is 200dpi.. :roll:
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Postby nito on Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:51 am

42
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Postby MATT on Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:16 am

nito wrote:42


agree
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