High-megapixel count cameras are not superfluous, and I’ve come to absolutely adore my Sony A7R2.
There was a time when megapixels in digital cameras finally got into the 20s, I thought “this is it, we can’t possibly need anymore than that.” Indeed, with the best mobile phone displays barely broaching 10 megapixels and instagram downsampling uploads to 1080x1080, Mid-20s megapixel cameras ought to suffice quite nicely for many years to come. Unless a professional and shoot to print/adverts, the average consumer of content haven’t got the medium to fully appreciate all the million of dots a photograph.
I’ve held onto the above paradigm for the longest time, even as Nikon released the 36 megapixel D800 and Canon came out with the 50 megapixel 5Ds. Niche machines for a niche consumer; I was fully content with my 24 megapixel Sony A5100.
Enter the 42 megapixel Sony A7R2. I finally made the jump to a full-frame sensor, and since I’ve moved from Canon to Sony, the logical step-up within the alpha family is the A7R2. It’s been a revelation ever since.
42 megapixels is simply glorious. it’s so detailed that I can zoom in tightly anywhere on an A7R2 produced photo and it’s like looking at yet another capture. Creative cropping can be freely done; I’m no longer limited by the reach of my modest zoom lens. A photograph taken full-resolution at 70mm can be turned into an equivalent of 200mm at around 16 megapixels. It’s absolutely magic and cheating/cheap at the same time.
Making the jump to high-megapixel have given me a sense freshness and excitement akin to making the jump to proper lenses with four-figure price tags. Photo optics are a truly wonderful science.