There’s arguably never been a better time to buy a compact camera as manufacturers strut around, flaunting their tail feathers, in a bid to catch the consumer’s eye. The result is the best compact cameras ever made, but also an upturn in high-resolution sensors. The Fujifilm X100VI made the jump from the V’s 26 megapixels to 40 megapixels and the Fujifilm X-E5 (an interchangeable-lens camera that’s all but a compact) made the same jump from the X-E4. And now, the Sony RX1R III has rocketed from the last iteration’s 42 megapixels to a whopping 61 megapixels.
I get it, more megapixels sell units; customers demand them. If a new iteration of a camera comes out and the sensor’s resolution hasn’t increased, you can bet your bottom dollar there are tens, hundreds of comments bemoaning the fact. As somebody who shot on a Nikon D800, Nikon D850, and currently a Nikon Z8, I’d be a hypocrite if I said I didn’t love working on high-resolution cameras. The problem is, they can prove slightly problematic for beginner or casual photographers.
