How many Megapixels can your eyes see? In other words, if you wanted to use a digital camera to capture an image that had the same resolution as “the real world” that you see, what resolution would that camera need to be? What would be the Megapixel equivalent of a human eye?
I heard a fascinating interview on ABC Radio National last night. It was with Australian filmmaker and inventor John Weiley
He was talking about the impact of digital technology on going to the cinema. It seems like we are in for a bit of a revolution in what we see and how we see it.
John covered some exact questions I had been pondering, plus a lot more. Now, as you ponder your 4 or 6 Megapixel (MP) camera, consider this:
- Digital IMAX images would need about 80 MP.
- The Human Eye sees the world with equivalent to about 100 MP capacity.
I wondered when we would have such devices. So I grabbed a spreadsheet and assumed Moore’s Law, with a doubling of MPs every 18 months. I arbitrarily said that a ‘consumer’ camera of Jan 2004 was 4 MP.
Year: MP
January 2004: 4
July 2005: 8
January 2007: 16
July 2008: 32
January 2010: 64
July 2011: 128
January 2013: 256
July 2014: 512
January 2016: 1024
So there you go, in 10 to 12 years from now, consumer cameras should capture ‘real’ images, that are literally the 100 MP that your eye sees. I’m tipping that Digital Imax will here a lot quicker than 10 years too.