Truce in the Megapixel WarThis has been an exciting few weeks for us camera lovers.  On March 25th Canon announced the 15.1 Megapixel Canon EOS Digital Rebel T1i.  Yesterday, Nikon took the wraps off the D5000, which has many of the same features as Nikon’s very successful D90 and adds an articulating 2.7 inch LCD screen. Both of these cameras offer excellent image quality, high ISO performance, and the ability to shoot high definition video. The best part, both of these cameras are under $900 with a kit lens!

So does this mean the race to simply pack as many pixels as they can into a camera is over? I think so.

Twelve to twenty megapixels is looking to be the sweet spot for the consumer and/or prosumer camera market. Olympus has even announced that twelve megapixels is enough for their E-system DSLRs. Companies can now shift their focus from the sensor to the overall user experience – refining the software and interface rather than the hardware.

This new “user experience focus” allows the camera manufactures to bring together the best of the compact digital cameras and the high end DSLRs into one package. Features such as face-priority, in-camera processing, and the ability to shoot video have made the jump to DSLRs from compact digital cameras. We are also seeing high-ISO performance, improved auto-focus and powerful built-in flashes trickle down from the higher end DSLRs into the consumer models.

The sub-$1000 DSLR of today has better image quality and low-light performance than the $5000+ pro model DLSR of a few years ago.

The winner in this war is not any of the camera manufacturers, but the consumer. You are getting more performance per dollar than ever.  We are also seeing DSLR cameras that can be used one-moment to take fine-art images with and then be picked up by grandma to take snapshots of her 37 cats. This combination of image quality and “user experience” is going to sell a lot of cameras.

Let’s hope for continued peace in the megapixel wars!