Originally posted by xmeda Well if you have good 60mpix FF sensor output and you resize it to 24mpix..
...
But yes, the hard-drive consumption is huge This is a good point worth touching on a little further...
It's not just
hard drive consumption that's a concern... It's
processing power too. With 50 - 60MP (and bigger) files, you need a current (or, at least, very recent) generation CPU, a good GPU, lots of memory for both, plus - ideally - fast SSD working storage to edit and process smoothly in real time and export collections of images with many adjustments in acceptable time-frames. Then, as you indicate, significant hard drive storage is required... not only for the working raw and final output files, but for immediate backups and archives too.
Of course, for a certain
very narrow range of working professionals who actually
need the very highest resolution and frequently print at very large dimensions for close-in viewing, the costs of such a technology setup in addition to the photographic equipment will be justifiable. Most of those folks don't even post here, though. The vast majority of our members range from beginners to advanced hobbyists, plus a few professionals at varying levels of technical ability and customer requirement. In this group, I'd argue that 24MP APS-C and 36MP full frame is more than ample. At these "lower" resolutions, most serious amateur applications are more than adequately covered for print sizes, and sensor performance in other areas is better whilst keeping the cost - both for the photographic equipment itself and the computer technology required to process and store images - at realistic levels.
I've found 24MP files to be a nice size to work with, regardless of format. Both my Pentax APS-C and Hasselblad / Sony full-frame gear produce 24MP files. They give me all of the image quality I need for reproduction sizes and purposes I'm ever likely to require, and they don't need a great deal of processing power or storage to work with. For all the talk on forums such as these by a very limited number of more demanding users (few of whom I know to actually
need more, as opposed to talking about it), I suspect I'm part of the vast majority...