What is a megapixel?

Pixels Digital cameras capture images as pixel elements, known as pixels. Simply put, a megapixel is equal to one million pixels.

Digital images are made up of thousands of these tiny, tile-like picture elements. The more pixels, the higher the image resolution.

Resolution relates primarily to print size and the amount of detail an image has when viewed on a computer monitor at 100%.

The number of megapixels is only one aspect relating to the quality of a camera, or the actual quality of a photo it is capable of producing. Factors such as camera sensor and the optical quality of a lens play equally important roles.

If you buy a digital camera with too few megapixels for your printing and editing needs, photo quality can become degraded. A photo made into a large sized print from a camera with a low megapixel count will look fuzzy, or pixelated. So will a digital image that is cropped too much.

Deciding on the number of megapixels

Deciding the number of megapixels you need does not have to be confusing. Don’t let a salesperson push you to buy a digital camera just because it has a high megapixel count. Before buying think about:

the maximum print size you make
if you do a significant amount of cropping when editing

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Article tags

Pixels, Print size

On 11 May 2009 at 3:03 pm Elizabeth Sloan said:

I am new at using a computer, and only bought it for the purpose of printing pictures to put on Tshirts. However the cd which came with my camera is suppose to fit any standard pc cd rom drive. It does not. It slides out and the door opens back up. Therefore preventing me from down loading. can you please help?

On 11 May 2009 at 4:24 pm Gail Bjork said:

If other CDs work in your CD slot, then you can assume it’s not a hardware issue.

Is the CD software it compatible with your Operating System? If not, go to the manufactures website and see if you can download a compatible version of the software there. If that doesn’t work, call the camera manufacturer tech support and ask what they recommend. If you’d like to give us more specifics (camera brand, computer brand, OS) we may be able to provide more help. However, please make inquiries of this type in our Q&A Forum. Hope it all works out!

On 15 May 2009 at 10:37 am Discontent with Digital Cameras | LEHSYS said:

[...] interest in the camera products, but honestly I can’t see why anyone needs anything over 10 MP. If you get a proper zoom lens, you don’t need the [...]

On 20 June 2009 at 2:58 am Adnan said:

so which factor should we consider in buying a digital camera for home use. first thing written above that no. of megapixel should be considered but not only this. then what are the another things.

On 20 June 2009 at 6:50 am Gail Bjork said:

Adam, Take a look at the features section in our Buying Guide. It lists minimum features and desirable features for both compact and digital single lens reflex cameras. You’ll find our Choosing a digital camera chart helpful too. We feature cameras and informative user reviews in our Amazon Shop.

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