MegaPixel...whats a MEGAPIXEL

MegaPixels

How many do I need? Do I have enough? What is a MegaPixel?

And no they are not really big pixels.

These are all very common questions fro anyone buying there first digital camera, and even common for people who already have a camera.

I think before we talk about how many we need its important to understand what it is we are talk about. What is a megapixel?

Well, I've always described it by saying 'a picture is made up of a series of dots also called pixels' and that 'a 1000 pixels is 1 megapixel'. Dictionary.com defines pixel as 'the smallest element of an image that can be individually processed in a video display system'. Basically the same thing, I just think mine is a little easier to understand. (But I might be a little bias)

Okay, great, now we know what a pixel is, and that 1,000,000 make a megapixel. How does this help? What does it mean?

I think for most people understand that the more pixels the better your picture is going to look. A picture with one pixel is not going to should any detail at all. A picture with a 1000 pixels is going to have a lot more detail. You would easily be able to define shapes and colours. (Canadian spelling again.) A wallet size photo with 1 magapixel would look great. the problems start when you want to make that wallet size picture into a 4 x 6, or 5 x 7 or even larger. As you increase the size of the picture the number of pixels doesn't change. The only thing that changes is the size of the pixels. Those nice little pixels in the wallet size photo that gave nice sharp edges (assuming the photo was well sharp and well focused to start with) are now a lot bigger. The sharp lines of the smaller size photo are not rough and jagged and no longer smooth.

So, to really answer the question of how many megapixels are need, you first need to ask your self. 'Self, what are you planning on using these pictures for?'

Well. If all you plan on EVER doing with your picture is posting it online on something like FACEBOOK or a blog then you don't need anything more the 2 megapixels. (Yes, I know that even the lowest price camera start at around 5 megapixels) For a 4 X 6 (the most common picture size) you would want at least a 4 megapixel camera, maybe even a 5 megapixel. So yes, most pictures coming from a 'cheap' or 'older' digital camera or even most cell phones or smart phones should look okay for the most situations.

I can hear you saying to yourself 'but sometimes I might want to print a picture bigger then 4 X 6'.

Not to worry you are in luck. With out going through all the different sizes I will talk about maybe the most common portrait is 8 X 10. Most 8 megapixel cameras should be able to produce pictures suitable for 8 X 10 prints. Although you might want to error on the side of caution and use a 10 megapixel.

If you would like to check the number of megapixels need for other size of pictures check out this chart that I've 'borrowed' from design215.com

So i guess what I'm trying to say here is that don't get caught up in the megapixel numbers. Yes, moving from a 4 megapixel to 10 megapixel will make a difference in the size you can print your pictures and still have them look good. Will you notice the same difference going from 10 megapixels to 16? Well, you might not notice as big as a difference, unless you are printing very large pictures.

I personally own a 6.1 megapixel and a 12.4 megapixel camera. No, I am not able to notice a diffrence when posting on facebook. When printing 16 X 20, or even 8 X 10, yes, there is a noticeable difference.