We refer to your letter published in the Technology section on July 22 under the heading 'Digital camera test overlooks vital factors'.
We believe that your reader may not have read the actual test report in its entirety in the July issue of Choice magazine. Therefore, a few clarifications are in order:
First, the Consumer Council has never suggested that digital camera manufacturers are misleading consumers with megapixel claims.
What we did say was that higher pixels alone do not necessarily produce higher quality pictures.
Second, with regard to the lack of a benchmark of quality for the reference of consumers, we are of the view that it is not appropriate to determine the quality of a product on the basis of any one single attribute or a combination of specifications as provided by the manufacturers.
That is precisely the object of our comprehensive comparative performance tests which assess, among other attributes, picture quality in automatic and manual modes, movie quality, flash performance, battery performance, versatility and ease of use.
Third, admittedly, consumers vary in the ways they base their purchasing decision: some go on the manufacturers' claims or specifications, while some go on their own experience or brand loyalty.