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home > graphics > digital cameras > Tips and Advice About MegaPixels

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY - MegaPixels and How Many MegaPixels You Really Need in Your Digital Camera

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What are Megapixels? How many megapixels do I need in my digital camera? Is there a MegaPixel Myth? These are the types of questions that are answered in the following articles.
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How Many Mega pixels do I Need? - Digital Photo Printing
One question that often comes up when printing digital photos - how many mega pixels do you need for a certain size print, such as an 8x10 inch print, an 11x14 inch print, or a larger poster size? Part of this discussion rests on the quality of the image. If an image is slightly blurry, you may need to resample it to a lower number of mega pixels to offset the blurriness, else the quality of the full-size printout may be less than expected.

How Many Megapixels Do You Need?
"Mega pixel madness" might confuse you when you're choosing a digital camera. So how many megapixels do you need? The graphic below will help you to map your output needs to the ideal number of megapixels for the job. For example, say you want to print only 4-by-6-inch prints or smaller and you send a lot of pictures by e-mail. According to the chart, a 1.2-megapixel camera should do the trick.

SPOTLIGHT GRAPHIC DESIGNERS FROM OUR DESIGN COMMUNITY

How Many Megapixels Do I Need? - Digital Camera Buying Guide
For any images you plan to print or retouch, we recommend you stick to 3-megapixel resolution and higher; Web- and e-mail-only photos should be fine at resolutions below that. For prints 8x10 or larger, look for digicams with 4-megapixel resolution or higher.

Kodak: A Thousand Nerds - Mega Pixels – How Many Do I Need?
How many do I need? Although this discussion has gone on for many years, with the advent of cheap cameras embedded in most any electronic device, its relevance continues. Kodak started all this back in March of 1997 with the introduction of the DC120, the world's first 1-megapixel (MP) consumer digital camera (which actually was a little shy of a true 1.0 megapixels).

How Many Megapixels Do You Really Need in a Digital Camera?
If you're out buying a digital camera, then one of the key deciding factors is the number of megapixels supported. The number of megapixels determines the how good your photos turn out.

Megapixel Cameras: How Many Megapixels Do You Need?
Over the last couple of years as digital cameras have been accepted by the masses and have gone mainstream, the cost of these cameras has gone down considerably. In the past, you had to pay big bucks for anything above 2 megapixels. Today, I wouldn't recommend you buy anything less than 4 megapixels if you have any intentions of getting professional prints done from the pictures you take. 4 megapixel cameras allow you to achieve excellent photo quality for any picture size up to 8x10.

How Many Megapixels Do We Need?
Are you having megapixel envy each time you walk by the camera section of your favorite electronics store? So do I. But, do we really need more and more pixels? The answer depends on what we intend to do with the images. Megapixel is a technical term for "million pixels", where a single pixel is the smallest unit of color that a camera's sensor is able to capture. The more pixels in the sensor, the sharper the image a camera can reproduce.

How Many Megapixels Do You Need? Tutorials
One way to answer the question is to work on the basis of the finished print size. The number of pixels required to print an image so that the print becomes almost indistinguishable from a print made from film, varies according to the size of the print. Indeed, past a certain number of pixels (around 1.3 megapixels), the quality of the image is not directly linked to the number of pixels on the sensor; the image contains a sufficient amount of information to create a clear and sharp photo.

Digital Photo Basics: How Many Megapixels Do I Need?
If you’re going to display or print pictures at smaller-than-actual-pixel size, resolution doesn’t matter much–opt for the camera with the best color.

Megapixel: How Many MegaPixels Do You Need to Print Your Favorite Photographs?
How do you sort through the hype and figure out how many megapixels is right for you? Read on...

Choosing Digital: Megapixels Rule?
Digital camera images are made of rows of colored dots that make up a rectangular grid to produce the whole picture. These dots are called 'pixels'. An image on a web page might be made up of 500 rows each with 400 pixels in them. The total number of pixels would be 500 × 400, which are 200,000 pixels. In digital cameras each pixel is red, green or blue (usually with twice as many green as the other two colours.)

Wired News: Do You Need More Megapixels?
The Resolution of your digital camera used to be like money in your pocket: You could never have enough of it. The first digicams arrived in the mid-'90s with image sensors that held less than a million tiny diodes, or pixels, each one capable of collecting red, green, or blue light to record a color picture. That resolution -- 1 megapixel -- is similar to what you'll get from your cell phone cam (and why it produces such grainy little candids).

How Many Megapixels Do You Need?
Get the Perfect Amount for Your Photo Needs

Deciding How Many Megapixels You Need
Buying a digital camera with features you want is as important as how many megapixels it has. Don't get caught up in advertising hype that leads many to believe that more megapixels are always better. Two factors come into play when deciding about megapixels: print size and the amount of cropping you do. The more megapixels, the larger size prints can be made without images becoming pixelated or jagged looking.

What's a Megapixel? - This Old Mouse
A megapixel is simply one million pixels. What's a pixel? The technical definition takes several pages, so let's suffice to say a pixel is the single, square "picture element" among a grid of many others which captures and then represents that particular point of light the camera saw when you clicked the 'shutter' button.

How Many Pixels Do I Need for Printing Photos?
Find out more about pixels and megapixels and what that all really means.

The Megapixel Race - Just How Many Do You Need?
A pixel (short for 'picture element') is a color dot in any digital picture, made up on your screen from red, green and blue dots which have varied intensities to make up different colors. In normal image files, each pixel is represented by 3 values, one each for the red, green and blue intensity. Digital images are a regular rectangular pattern of rows of these pixels.

Opinion: How Many Megapixels Do You Need On a Camera Phone?
How far will this megapixel malarkey go? Don’t get me wrong, I reach for my wallet at the first mention of any new gadget that’s bigger, better or shinier than the one before it.

How Many Megapixels Do I Need My Camera to Have?
Most digital cameras sold today support a resolution of 5 megapixels (million pixels) or higher. A 5 megapixel camera will allow you to print a 5 × 7 or 8 × 10 image of good quality. If you want to print larger photos, you will need a camera with 6 megapixels or higher. However, if you only plan to take images for the web or to email to friends and relatives, a 2 megapixel model should be good enough and cost less.

The Megapixel Wars: Don't Be a Casualty
I believe there's a digital camera out there for almost everyone, so it was frustrating when a friend complained last year that his 4MP (megapixel) camera "eats batteries and takes lousy photos." His problem was that he bought the wrong camera, and today, he has a camera he loves. Many camera manufacturers push what I call the Dreaded Camera Purchase Formula, also known as: camera value = megapixels / price.

Digital Camera: How Many Pixels/MegaPixels Do I Need When I Buy a Digital Camera?
This is an issue that I thought about for quite a while before deciding to buy a digital camera.  No one seams to tell you how to compare the quality of digital pictures to how they will print out or to that of standard 35mm film.  Since I am not a professional photographer, I was mostly concerned about picture resolution and hoped that the camera would take care of all the other issues for me (color rendition, noise, tonal range?  Who knows what else). 

The Online Photographer: How Many Pixels Do You Need?
Now decide how large you want to print as your standard size. (Hint: For occasional large prints, either send it out to a professional lab, or use an "uprezzing" application such as Fixer Lab’s Size Fixer. Remember that larger prints will be looked at from farther away.) Multiply each dimension by your chosen resolution, and then multiply the two. Voilá. That's how many megapixels you need.

How many Megapixels is Enough?
nspired by the poll in the main page - I'd like to ask questions too.
Are you the type who wants a full-up digicam to be able to text and call? Or are you the type who's satisfied with the current crop of phones? If you're the latter... how many megapixels do you need or want? 2mp? 3mp? 5mp? 7mp or more? How many megapixels do you have to have in your phone? How many would it take before you say "I think that this is enough"...?

Megapixels for Digital Photo Printing at 200 Pixels Per Inch (ppi)
How many megapixels (MP) are necessary to produce a high quality digital photo print? Though several factors affect print quality, this page focuses on image resolution, providing answers for questions.

Tips for Megapixels
So, you've found a camera that has 5.0 megapixels and you're wondering exactly how they arrived at that number. Did they just grab it out of the digital ether, or is there some math you're mission' out on?  Well, the term "megapixel" simply means 1 million pixels. So, that means a 5 MP camera can capture 5 million pixels at its highest quality setting. The more of these pixels you capture, the larger you can print your image. Stop and re-read that last sentence! It's the main reason for wanting more megapixels.

What the Heck is a Megapixel?
Let's start off by defining a pixel. The word "pixel" is actually a shortened form of the phrase "picture element." A picture element is, in the computer world, basically a dot. As you know, computer screens (and digital camera images) are made up of grids of dots. Today, a typical computer screen has 1024 dots across by 768 dots down, although older screens have less and gamers often punch their screens up to higher resolution.

Deciding How Many Megapixels You Need
Probably the most significant feature when choosing a digital camera is the number of megapixels, which determines the quality of your photos. Choose too few for your needs, and your images will suffer. Choose too many, and you might be spending more cash than necessary. For most people, however, deciding on the elusive perfect number can be tough. Below is a guide to help you choose, including what size prints you can expect to get and basic prices.

How Many Megapixels Does My Digital Camera Need?
The term megapixel means one million pixels. Digital images are made of pixels, or picture elements. A pixel is a "square dot" in your picture.  One of the first questions many people ask when shopping for a new digital camera is "How many megapixels do I need?" Many people are aware that the number of megapixels the camera is able to capture in a single image has a direct effect on the quality of the photos the camera is able to output.

Buy the Right Digital Camera, Not the Most Megapixels
While most people are trying to buy a camera with the highest number of megapixels, that is not necessarily the best way to select a digital camera. There is another issue to consider when selecting a good camera. You should also find out how big the CCD chip is. The CCD (charge-coupled device) is the chip that turns the image received by the camera into a digital picture. The larger the CCD the more detailed and crisp the picture produced. As far as megapixels go unless you plan to produce prints larger than 8 X 10 inches in size, you don’t need more than 4 megapixels. 

When Is a Megapixel Not a Megapixel?
One of the most common questions I'm receiving in my daily email load are these concerning pixel count and various file sizes which can be generated by the same camera. Just yesterday (as of the original writing) I received six related emails (well, three from the same person, but still). I've been planning for some time to write on this subject. Other things always pop up, being more urgent, so the task is being hopelessly delayed.

What the Heck is a Megapixel?
Discussions include understanding pixels, How pixels contain color information, How the eye responds to pixels and color, a technical definition of the word "megapixel", and more.

TheVooner.com Review - Minolta Dimage F100 Digital Camera Review
After much deliberation, I finally got the Minolta F100 4-megapixel digital camera. As most of you know, my Sony DSC-S85, while taking amazing quality pictures, has started to bother me primarily because of its massive size which makes it not very travel-friendly (not to mention the peripherals that I had to additionally carry like the charger, USB cable, etc.). Compared to other digital cameras, the S85 just wasn't cutting it.

The Megapixel Myth
The human eye can only recognize 200dpi or so, so even for an 8×10 print, which is as big as I would want to get, [the argument is always phrased in a run-on sentence with comma-splices] you’re only looking at 1600×2000pixels, which is 3.2 megapixel, therefore the idiots buying 5, 7, or 10 megapixel cameras are just tools of the corporate whore neo-fascist consumerism brainwash, and their purchasing of these cameras affirms

The Megapixel Myth - You are Getting Ripped Off
David Pogue has an article in the New York Times today about the Megapixel Myth. His heart is in the right place, and he comes to the correct conclusion, but he’s fairly sparse on the details and the News.com ran a story this week quoting Chris MacAskill, my father and SmugMug’s President. He comments on how the word megapixel is a marketers’ dream, and he’s right.

Megapixels & Camera Phones
Consumer Electronics publication CoolTechZone.com tackles the integrated camera attachments in today's cell phones. According to the author, "The camera integration has in fact reached such a stage that any self-respecting phone would incorporate at least a megapixel camera. The cutting-edge feature to have though is the 2-megapixel variety.

Do Megapixels Matter?
When purchasing a new digital camera there are many questions that race through one’s mind! Typically the first one should be “What am I going to use the camera and it’s photos for?” as that question will often lead you down the right path to purchasing the camera that works best for your needs. However, more often than not people begin at the “megapixel” count as their primary determination of what to buy.

Digital Camera Blog: Megapixel Madness
A slew of new digital cameras have been announced since the first of the year. There will be many more announcements as we head toward the Photo Marketing Association Conference and Trade Show held each March. So far the headlines tout point-and-shoot digital cameras with seven, eight, even 10 megapixels.

How Many Pixels Are Enough? A Guide to Choosing a Digital Camera
The first thing people want to know about a digital camera is "how many pixels does it have?" Although this is not a bad question to ask, it's not the only factor to consider when choosing a camera. To help you decide how many pixels you need (and how much money you need to spend to get those pixels), read this sample chapter.

How Many Pixels Do You Need?
Digital cameras have a range of features that you will almost certainly recognize if you have owned a traditional 35mm camera. These include zoom lenses and automatic flash.

Mainstream - The 5 Megapixel Cameras
When looking for a 5 megapixel camera, you will find a huge selection of models from which to choose. It can be very confusing to the average consumer, and finding which are the best digital cameras might be a matter of personal preference. You have to decide how much memory you want, what you will use your camera for, how many features you want, and what type of price range you have in mind.

Megapixels Don't Matter
Watching the hyper-rapid progress of digital cameras over the last few years has been like seeing a series of time-lapse photographs of a flower blooming. It has provided a fascinating view of the way technology markets in general tend to develop. In particular, it has shown how the basic performance of high-tech products advances so quickly that it soon exceeds the needs of most customers.

What's a Megapixel?
The other day I was standing in line at a camera store to purchase some rechargeable batteries for my digital camera when I heard the gentleman behind the counter say to the person in front of me "it's all about Megapixels." We all nodded sagely and went about our business, but later on I thought, what is a Megapixel and how many do I need?

Adobe Forums - Default image ppi/Dimensions of Most Megapixel Digicams
I realize this must seem an overly simple question. I haven't yet purchased a digicam and was wondering what the image size reads under image menu of PS of a max resolution capture from any digicam users here. PPI and image dimension in inches.

How to Buy a Digital Camera with Enough Mega Pixels to Meet Your Needs
Find out the 6 steps to finding the right digital camera for your mega pixel needs.

How many Megapixels is enough?
How many megapixels is enough for the field that you are in? I am a Pro Wedding photographer and feel that anything over the current 6.3MP of the 10D is overkill for weddings. Maybe just maybe 8MP would be OK, but anything over that to me would just be too much of a hassle to handle in post editing (600 images per wedding). What do you think?

Pogue’s Megapixel Madness
First let’s acknowledge that Pogue’s fundamental point, however narrow, is accurate –megapixels don’t matter nearly as much as people think they do.

Digital Cameras for Cheap: How Many Megapixels Will You Gift This Holiday
The Wall Street Journal had a story [subscription required] a month or so ago in which readers complained about the ubiquity of digital cameras, reporting that at weddings, so many of the guests were snapping photos that there were no pictures of people enjoying themselves -- only meta-photos of other cameras.

How Many Megapixels Do You Need
Film and digital cameras are just tools we use for taking pictures. Both systems are very much alike in terms of actual picture taking procedures and features. Digital photography is still photography. Everything is still the same except film is replaced with sensors and pixels. Quality photographs can be made with any SLR camera. Film cameras, regardless of the model of format, have nothing to do with the quality of the final image.

How Many Megapixels Do We Need?
Are you having megapixel envy each time you walk by the camera section of your favorite electronics store? So do I. But, do we really need more and more pixels? The answer depends on what we intend to do with the images.

Getting a Handle on the Creative Process for Graphic Designers
The Graphic Design industry is very competitive, and trust me, it can certainly get stressful and frustrating at times. However, it doesn?t always have to be that way. Here, I have broken down my design process. This is how I create my design layouts from start to finish. Basically, with some focus, structure, and a little bit of talent, creating rewarding and professional design work can be produced more efficiently and with less stress.

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