It's also not just a matter of sensor resolution but lens resolution as well. 35mm film has very high resolution, probably comparable to a 20 MP - 30 MP sensor, but many photographers chose larger formats for the superior image quality. With 35mm film, you have to enlarge the captured image quite a bit to get reasonably sized prints. This puts a lot of demand on the lens to provide enough fine detail that can be enlarge 10 or 20 times and still look good. With large format films the enlargements relative to the captured image were much smaller, making it much easier for a lens to deliver sharp images with good tonal qualities. So on a 35 MP sensor, you may have enough pixels to print very large but those pixels may not be giving you anymore detail because of limitations of the lens. And I think the next generation of APS-C cameras are going to start hitting this wall.
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Why I Like Photographs
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