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Do more megapixels mean better photos?

"What you often get along with the additional pixels is more noise, which ends up getting smudged away oftentimes by in-camera noise reduction software," said Jeff Keller, editor of the Digital Camera Resource Page.

Keller recently advised most readers to pick the 8-megapixel Canon PowerShot A630 over the 10-megapixel A640. "Most people don't need the extra resolution. Plus, the file sizes are larger, and the camera is slower," he said.

Image sensor makers are also changing to try to deal with the noise issue. In particular, they're working on reducing the size of supporting electronics so more sensor area is devoted to gathering light. Compensation strategies include the following:

• Olympus began using 'NMOS' sensor chips that decrease the area taken up by electronics, Smith Clemens said. And in low light, results from multiple pixels are ganged together, a move that averages out noise but reduces the ultimate image's resolution.

• Sensor maker Micron has technology to let multiple pixels share the same circuitry so less is needed, said Suresh Venkatraman, director of digital camera work at Micron.

• Canon said it kept image sensor pixel sizes the same when it moved from its 8-megapixel EOS 350D to its 10-megapixel 400D sequel.

• And Fujifilm's SuperCCD sensor grid is rotated 45 degrees compared with ordinary sensors, to devote more area to light-gathering, said David Troy a senior product manager at Fujifilm USA.

Do consumers care?
Having better technology and getting consumers to buy aren't the same thing. Fujifilm, for example, has technology that uses two sensors for each pixel -- one for low-light sensitivity and one for brighter conditions.

"Those... cameras did a fantastic job with highlight detail," said Chris Crotty, an analyst with iSuppli. "It was an admirable effort, but it really didn't get any traction in the marketplace."

But there's evidence of a more sophisticated understanding of the situation -- in part the result of the fact that most digital-camera buyers aren't buying their first digital cameras. Among features camera makers are beginning to add to point-and-shoot models are face detection to set focus and exposure better, lenses that gather more light and zoom lenses that work better with wide-angle views.

"Megapixels will always be important, but as consumers become more educated, it will be the addition of other features that make the purchase of their new camera more worthwhile," Campbell said. "As the digital-camera market matures, consumers are becoming aware that lens quality, processor quality and image stabilisation technologies are at least as important as pixel counts when determining image quality."

Even better, those features aren't mere marketing hype. "Face detection is a technology that has real tangible benefits to consumers," Etchells said. "You will get more in-focus photos and get the exposure right."

Don't expect an end to the megapixel race, though, Crotty said. The firm estimates that digital cameras had an average of 5.7 megapixels in 2006 and forecasts it will increase to 6.5 megapixels this year and to 9.2 megapixels in 2010.

SmugMug's MacAskill thinks that's a shame.

"We went past the point where more megapixels made a difference years ago," MacAskill said. "In the last 3 million prints we've made for very discriminating eyes, none were returned for lack of pixels."