EOS 7D Canon DSLR eque 18-megapixel 22.3 x 14.9 mm APS-C  CMOS sensor

A larger Sensor Increases quality in several ways. 

The chart above is not shown actual size. The black area represents the 36 X 24 mm area in the picture of actual film shown below. See how small point & shoots are!
A full frame SLRs Sensor is the same size as the old film. The point and shoots sensor is about the size of the numbeer 36.

See the Sensor for the Canon PowerShot G11 ? The company lowered the pixel count for this Camera to increase quality! What? How could that be? First it's a better Sensor and more sensitive to low light and that's great for people pictures. It's known that too many pixels crammed into a chip can cause a loss in quality but most Companies did it anyway because of the marketing pixel race.

In my opinion you do not want the small Sensors in most point and shoot cameras like the first one at the top. They will not pick up shadow and highlight detail you need no matter how many pixels the claim to have. The .17 CCD in the Canon PowerShot G11 is quite a bit larger and although it's a new camera and hasn't been tested yet the older one the G10 has been used by lots of photojournalists in war zones and they report loving the camera. 

These cameras are more expensive than the average point and shoot but there's a big difference in the quality and I for one really like them. As you can see from the chart above the new Olympus E-P1 jumps a lot in Sensor size and also in price, around 900 bucks US dollars without a lens. If anyone wants to buy me one I will love you forever. 

You don't want people to think you are a pro photographer by sticking a big SLR in their face. Learn to hide in plain sight. Use a small camera and shoot fast. Learn to be quick with practice and I don't mean a little practice, I mean practice like a old west gunfighter! 

The APS-C Sensors are used in the SLR Cameras needed if you need huge prints and fantastic quality. Some Pro SLRs are full frame 35mm Sensors that cover the entire blue area of the chart above. Some if not most pros like the APS-C size best because it works better with all kinds of lenses.

Remember these natural people pictures are worth money so go out there and shoot because the more you shoot the better you will get and the more money you will make. And once you make lots of money you can make 1000 times as much teaching others how you did it. How about that? 

Click here to learn more about Phtotgraphy. Turn your photos into cash.

All the best to you, 

Walt

 Learn about making money with photography see my book Photo Cash Strategy at http://www.photocashstrategy.com/ Click Here!