The fact that the latest high-end Nikon and Canon DSLR’s can shoot 1080p HD video doesn’t tell the full story about the quality of the video they shoot.    Some of the reasons why they suck for Video:

• ergonomics
• shortcuts in processing that involve tossing out 2/3rds of the lines resulting in diminished light sensitivity and increased color moire and noise.
• a wobbling “Jello-world” produced by a top-to-bottom scanning sensor
• awful audio

For details on all 8 reasons Read the full article from PoetZero

Gizmodo has written an excellent article on the folly of sacrificing low light performance for unnecessary resolution.    An insightful response that follows the article:

“I was trying to decide at one point between the D40(6.1 MP) and the D60 (10.2 MP) Nikon. Every single time I would ask someone on flickr for their opinion they would say get the D60! Extra megapixels! Because of cost, and seeing as paying more for a VR lens in the D60, decided to go with the D40. And 6 MP is COMPLETELY FINE. I get the most amazing night shots and the quality is fine. Everyone seems to fall for this “Megapixel Myth” and gets the D60, but when it comes down to it, seeing the night shots of my friends D60, wouldn’t trade the D40 in for the D60 even if I could do it for free.”

Read the article by Matt Buchanan: Giz Explains: Why More Megapixels Isn’t Always More Better

We like the ISO war that is shaping up.  Nikon fired the first shot by releasing the Nikon DS3 and Canon was quick to fire back (yes that was a joke) with the EOS-1D Mark IV, which boasts a 16.1 megapixel sensor and an ISO up to 102,400, which coincidentally (or is it?) has the exact same ISO of the DS3.

Read the article at Digital Photography Review: Canon updates pro line with EOS-1D Mark IV

To learn about ISO speed (AKA Sensitivity) read the page on Film Speed from Wikipedia

ISO sensitivity is more important to image quality than pixel count.  This camera has 12.1 megapixel sensor, you can bet its going to be remarkably better than a 12 megapixel camera phone.

[Read Article at Macworld]