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I read the justification for that 576MP number and it looks wildly optimistic. Sure eyes can differentiate two lines close together... when at the center of vision. Then they multiple that by 120 degrees horizontal and vertical.

Unfortunately resolution of your eyes drops off quickly from the center of vision. Yes you can move your eyes to focus on different things, but so can cameras.

Sure the mental image you build is high resolution, but not that directly related to reality. A good example of this is the numerous optical illusions that depend on you looking at a point of an image, building a mental representation of that image, then finding a conflict whenever you move your eye.

Link that seems to be the source of the 576MP number: https://art-sheep.com/the-resolution-of-the-human-eye-is-576...

Not what I'd call a particularly scientific explanation.




> Unfortunately resolution of your eyes drops off quickly from the center of vision.

True, but we can move our eyes around very quickly. Cameras in self-driving cars are usually fixed.

Also, human eyes have better dynamic range.


I actually took the time to calculate this a while ago - basically, angular resolution drops off pretty much exactly as 1/(angular distance) from the center of focus, and the total angular size of the human visual field is only so big (and is measured). The actual answer is closer to 1 megapixel at any given time.




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