Practical Photography

Well I’m sure everyone has heard of a pixel, which is an elemant of a picture, and most camera manufacturers produce mega pixel cameras which is 1000 pixels. But a Gigapixel is 1000 megapixels. A good camera is usually around 10 megapixels so you can imagine how sharp the image quality is of a gigapixel or a few gigapixels. I’m sure you can also imagine the price of such a camera!

There is some technology out there that can produce a 39 megapixel image like the Hasselblad CFII-39 camera which will cost you over £12,000 (US$20,000). So far a gigapixel image would be so immense it would take the largest computers just to be able to manage it… I’m sure your average windows application would crash at the thought of a gigapixel.

What would you use a gigapixel for? A gigapixel camera could be used to take intricate photographs of large areas such as landscapes, and Nasa have been experimenting with taking pictures of the surface of Mars. The quality of a Gigapixel image is so detailed it would be as though you were there your self.

If a camera that is just 125 times the quality of your average decent digital camera costs over £12,000 how much would a camera that is 100 times the quality? And are they on ebay?

Well unfortunately a gigapixel camera would cost more than the average millionaire would be inclined to pay out but a photography enthusiast in South West England has been working oin a more affordable solution. Kilgore 661 has routed out his old lego and mechano kits to come up with a solution…. watch this space!