For several years now, photographers have been not necessarily wanting more megapixels, but better overall image quality. At least, that’s what I thought. A while back, OM System told us that they actually have been getting requests for more megapixels. With that said, every camera manufacturer now has a solid camera within the 40MP range — except for Sony and Leica. Several years ago, Sony did this with the A7r III. But today, you can look at the whole lineup and see cameras with a variant of a 40MP sensor of some sort. Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm, and Panasonic LUMIX all have something to fit this need. And in my opinion, this is the best range currently that should be a standard for every photographer.
Yes, it’s 2026 and we’re talking about megapixels.
Megapixels still matter because they help photographers crop into images and reframe in post-production. They also help with things like retouching and getting details out of older lenses that we haven’t been able to see before on top of color editing. But more importantly, if you combine it with good photography skills, high megapixels can make that your images will be bound to have that much more pop.
Photographers for years have been all about 24MP and saying that that’s enough. Well, it’s enough if you have good enough lenses and reach. But if you don’t, then you’ll realize how different things can be. 40MP sensors are able to produce images at unusually high ISOs that still look good and that I’d be very glad to print at 17×22 inches.
What’s more, there is already video that can be shot at higher than 40MP. An 8K video can be as large as 7680 x 4320 pixels. Meanwhile, my Panasonic S1R II shoots stills that are 8144 x 5424 pixels. Think about that: it’s getting really close now.
At this point, our industry should really be at a higher end spot for still images. 100MP still images should be capable from nearly every camera. With all this said, 40MP should really be the place where we get really great and versatile still images if video is at that same place. 24MP sensors should be even more capable of high ISO images.
But look at our current camera industry: the basic cameras have megapixels at either 24MP or 33MP. How does that make sense?
Photographers, have we not been robbed?