[jethsy]

I am confused and obviously not an expert on photography! I have been told that the sensor size is extremely important and that if the sensor size is small, such as in lower priced p and s cameras, there will be poor quality the more the MP size because of noise. So, what IS a good rule of thumb? I have looked at SLR cameras and they may have 14 or 16 MP and not very large sensors themselves, unless we go up to the $1K or more range.

I'd like more zoom, but it seems that in every p and s I find, more zoom seems to go with higher MP and that small sensor once again!

flummoxed in Indiana

[etaf]

your budget may decide - as soon as you get into DSLR - you are then looking at lenses etc

DSLR - mainly have two types of sensors - APS-C size or Full Frame - full frame referres to the sensor being the same size as 35mm film

this may help
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-7603_7-6241014-3.html

[Peano]

Originally Posted by jethsy

I have looked at SLR cameras and they may have 14 or 16 MP and not very large sensors themselves, unless we go up to the $1K or more range.

You consider 14-16 MP "not very large"?????

What size prints do you contemplate making?

(EDIT: I have a Canon 30D -- 8.2 MP -- and that's big enough to make very nice 11x17 prints.)

[daniel_b2380]

jethsy,

Originally Posted by jethsy

....flummoxed in Indiana

sometimes just a little info is enough to really confuse an issue
i would have to say that pretty much any camera on the market is a good one - FOR THE PURPOSE IT WAS INTENDED FOR!!!
the problem arises when we try to use one thing to do something else with it
many of us who are very serious about our "hobbies" can get a considerable amount of $$$$ invested,
thus when someone asks a question about something SIMPLE - the answers they get are totally skewed by those who are much more involved in that "hobby"
but the basic questions are still the basic questions - the first, and the most important being:
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE USING IT FOR???

so...
to get an answer to your what seems a simple question, you will have to delve a bit into what some of the constraints are upon the manufacurer - $$$ vs $$$ yielding PROFIT

maybe this for a start so that everyone is on the same page about the terminologies of the technologies used:
http://photo.net/equipment/digital/basics/
Digital Cameras - A beginner's guide

then to this:
http://photo.net/equipment/digital/sensorsize/

then to move on to how inter-related ALL the things a manufacurer must consider and deal with when designing a camera:
good tutorial on sensor size with considerations for other influences:
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tut...ensor-size.htm

the info in this article is quite dated about the models mentioned,
BUT
gives a person an idea of the many factors needed to be thought of when getting ready to buy a camera, even if it is just a p&s unit:
http://photo.net/equipment/best-digital-camera/

this site gives some good basic comparisons from the simplest p&s to the better dslr models:
http://snapsort.com/learn/size


these articles from wikipedia are good for someone wanting to know more on the subject without getting burried by a bunch of big technical words you would have to go to college to learn what they mean:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_sensor_format

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_sensor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirrorl...le-lens_camera

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-frame_digital_SLR

[wowzer]

Originally Posted by daniel_b2380

jethsy,

sometimes just a little info is enough to really confuse an issue
i would have to say that pretty much any camera on the market is a good one - FOR THE PURPOSE IT WAS INTENDED FOR!!!
the problem arises when we try to use one thing to do something else with it
many of us who are very serious about our "hobbies" can get a considerable amount of $$$$ invested,
thus when someone asks a question about something SIMPLE - the answers they get are totally skewed by those who are much more involved in that "hobby"
but the basic questions are still the basic questions - the first, and the most important being:
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE USING IT FOR???