pixel peeping is a different hobby

If people say to me "You need as many MP as possible...20MP isnt enough for large work!" etc. etc. I just say "how did all those top line professionals manage it using those 10MP cameras 15 years ago? It goes very quiet then.

you need to go from 24 to 100mpx to double the LINEAR resolution ...... going from 24 to 44 only increases by 1/3 ..... which unsurprisingly is not that noticeable.

The 8k video is what I want from the s1rii. The 44mp is a nice to have

Years ago, I was shooting with a Nikon D3 (12Mpix) and I was printing to A2 size with a high resolution Epson photo printer. You need a magnifying glass to discover that the camera resolution don't match the printer resolution. For the naked eye the print is perfect. You shouldn't forget that the linear resolution varies as the square root of the megapixels. So a 44 megapixels camera has only 35% more linear resolution than a 24Mpix not 44/24=1.83.

You know what would have been nice? A second tripod & no editing.

A sober and accurate appraisal. I have used 12mp to 50mp cameras professionally and have never had any complaints about any of them. In fact, one of my wildlife shots had to be cropped severely and it ended up at around 4.5mp; it won a competition without any comments on the resolution (I was rather surprised), but even today that shot holds up well. Sometimes high resolution just means higher demand on storage capacity and processing time.

I have a 13x19" photo printer, and I've made sharp prints from my old 12MP Canon 5D(c) - even viewing very close.  I eventually upgraded to the 5D3 for the AF, then 5D4 for the DR.  It was nice to be able to crop in a bit more.  And now with the Canon R5m2, it has the same pixel density as a 24MP APS sized sensor.  I'm more comfortable cropping in if I'm shooting wildlife, and I can use the whole area for FF characteristics.  When it comes to the advantage of 45MP for large print sizes....you don't need it for billboards since viewing distance is so far away.  But there are situations where people want really large posters.  I used to work at a graphics department that had really large plotters, and the staff photographer did really welcome the 45MP D800.

Having more megapixels is just a tool, like having a lens that can stop down to f1.4 instead of f2.8. You probably won't need those extra megapixels most of the time but for the times you do need it (for a much tighter crop) you'll be glad you had it.

Lens makes a huge difference also don’t forget: high megapixels cameras are affected by diffraction early on around F8 etc.

Something you should check is the actual magnification of a 100% pixel peep.  You will need to get your tape measure to actually measure the dimensions of the image area displayed and you will want to crop that portion of the image as closely as possible to determine the Pixel Dimensions.  Then you need to remember the short dimension of a 35mm frame is 24mm.  I've done this and on my 27 inch 4K monitor the magnification works out to a 37.5 X magnification.  In regards to super large prints when you factor in the "normal Viewing Distance" for the print size (1.5 - 2 times the diagonal) you'll find that the limiting factor isn't the camera resolution, it is the ability of the human eye to resolve fine detail.  Dig deep enough into that and you'll find that the Human Eye with 20/20 vision can only resolve between 6mp and 28mp.  BTW concentrating on fine detail requires more actual WORK with the muscles in the eye than a basic glance taking in the entire image, thus the wide range in resolution.  There is also the matter of the Pupil Diameter, it is much easier to see fine detail in bright lighting because our pupils get smaller and just like a camera lens a smaller aperture provides a wider DOF.

While the point is well-taken, this comparison omits a LOT of important nuance. Above a certain print-size, you are relying on software algorithms to achieve clarity of print. Even on the monitors, the images should have been compared at 100% zoom i.e. pixel-to-pixel view to compare detail, and even then Lightroom as the tool, was probably still manipulating the on-screen image. In print: At 300 DPI (dots per inch), which is the standard for high-quality printing, the dimensions compare as follows:
- 24MP Image (6000x4000 pixels): Roughly 13.3 x 20 inches.
- 44MP Image (8144x5424 pixels): Roughly 18.1 x 27.1 inches.
The 44MP image allows for a print roughly 35-40% wider and higher than the 24MP image while maintaining the same 300 DPI quality. That’s a significant bump in print size with native pixels before software enlargement comes into play.
This is still separate from any hybrid-zoom or crop-in benefits.
It’s an interesting video, but is an overly simplistic take on the subject tbh.

@Scott Edwards, That "flaw" you saw in the S1II photo is the "moiré" effect, and it doesn't appear in the S1RII because it can capture more detail.
Moiré: The moiré effect is a visual interference pattern that forms when two structures with repetitive patterns (such as lines, grids, or dots) overlap at a slight angle or with a subtle difference in their size or spacing.

Try using two tripods, at same time, with same settings. For me, 20 MP is enough 😊

And if 24MP still isn't enough there's scaling software like Scalar that do a great job of resizing.

an A4 size print, printed at 300dpi equals a resolution of just 9.7M pixels (dots)

Just use a high megapixel mode on 24mp sensor it will give you nearly exact results as 44mp sensor, and it’s a gamechanger if you need high megapixel sensor only when u shoot landscapes

For me the larger resolution of the S1Rv2 gives more flexiblity for Hybrid Zoom.  I am essentially a stills photographer and the difference in cost of these cameras is quite small.  I can carry smaller lenses and still get great wildlife videos without carryin the longer lenses. There is no down side for me with having the larger sensor . I do not do whip pans so sensor readout speed is not an issue.

The only usefulness for massive megapixel counts is cropping in. It essentially gives you free zoom.

Now let's compare a 7Mpx camera with a 50 Mpx camera