Olympus changed its mind (was: Contrarian View: Olympus and 12-megapixels)

The original post at CNet was changed/corrected at the request of Olympus, and the 12-megapixels have now become 20-megapixels and some conditionals were added to refer to "most", not "all" cameras.

So as we stated in the original post below, megapixel-restraint is not shown by interviews and press releases but by actual cameras that do the talking for themselves!

Original Post when the article said 12-megapixels
A number of photographers, websites and blogs have praised Olympus after telling the world at PMA 2009 that they think 12-megapixels is enough.

On the face of it, this is wonderful, 12-megapixels on their Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds sensors is certainly a reasonable trade-off in terms of resolution, performance, and making-the-most-of currently available technology.

However, we are not buying it just yet...

Unlike Panasonic who made the statement with an actual camera (see LX3) taking a "megapixel discount", Olympus made this announcement just after they announced two new 12-megapixel cameras, jumping from 10mp to 12mp. So the effect of this from a marketing perspective is to discourage people "waiting" for more megapixels and encourage them to buy now. Not necessarily a bad thing...

... but that's not all. At the same time, Olympus has announced a maddening number of 12mp 1/2.3" cameras. Because if 12-megapixels are enough for the Four Thirds sensor size, surely 12mp are WAY TOO MUCH for a 1/2.3" sensor. Of the 14 (that on its own is a crazy number) new compact digital cameras they announced in 2009, half of them are using 12mp 1/2.3" sensors.

So while Olympus does deserve praise for making a statement on megapixel-madness, it is also a marketing-convenient statement at this point in time. We are not convinced unless we don't see higher-megapixel Olympus cameras a few months/years from now.