> > A 6Mp camera is actually a 24Mp already, with 3/4 of the photosites > > effectively unavailable to us :( > Nope. On a 6MP camera there are 6 million photosites > and Herschel Mair adds > : A 6-Mp (8 Bit) colour image is made from a 6-Mp sensor giving a 6-Mp > (12 Bit) B&W RAW image. > : There is only one photosite per pixel. The colour information is taken > from surrounding pixels (far more than 4) in the demosaicing (RAW > conversion) process. > you're right and my theoretical knowledge needs some updating! thanks for > the correction on this - both of you.. Trouble is Karl, while you were wrong (in terms of the current conventions) you were actually right in terms of information content (what should be the convention). You simply cannot create real information - therefore while there are indeed 6 million photosites there are not really 6 million RGB ones. I fully agree that there is a real advantage for a B&W CCD camera (Oh, Canon do sell them to astro-photo types). You simply get more detail because you actaully record more real detail. Sure, in a perfect world I agree with Jeff - if I could record 6-million *real* pixels and desaturate later it would be better but the old fart monochrome worker could continue to use coloured filters to do that "in camera" at the time of capture. That said, just back from Barcelona, and noticed two things: 1) That there were thousands of cameras around but I was one of only a very very few still using film 2) The "World Citizens' Guide" seems to be having an effect :o) Q
