Originally posted by monochrome The answer is dependent upon whether you print large.
Or crop or downsample. (I rarely print larger than 11x16.)
One real concrete reason to want at least 36MP in current Exmor quality or higher - you can shoot all your aps-c lenses, auto-crop in camera to aps-c size and get the same # of MP, the same DR and the same SNR the K5 has now natively.
36MP gives you a K5 inside your new FF body! That would really help with the transition to FF lenses - if you even want to transition all of them. I still own and shoot two aps-c lenses on the D800 occasionally, in crop mode.
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Quote: I think most enthusiasts, if they are brutally honest wtih themselves, don't need a better camera than a K3 - until they are good enough to print and display their images in public places.
It's not really about
need, though. Most photographers don't need anything more than a K30, or maybe even a K100Ds to get really nice web images and prints. I still have shots I took with my K100D on my wall, and they look as fantastic as ever - but it's going to be easier and more enjoyable (for me) to get shots like that with a K3, or D800, or a FF Pentax.
And you are absolutely right about working on technique first, that should go without saying, hopefully. But you can also work on technique with a FF body and 50mm prime
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