Megapixels
What are these megapixels really all about?
A photograph produced by a digital camera is a collection of tiny dots. Each dot is called a pixel. The image that you see is created out of millions of pixels(megapixels).Problems emerge when you increase the size of a digital photograph. The more you increase the size, the more you begin to notice all of the tiny dots. The digital image is revealed for what it really is. This is especially true when you want to print your digital photo. While you may not be able to see the individual pixels on your computer monitor, you will definitely notice them when the image is printed. Printers require a LOT of pixels to create a decent photographic print.
Interpolated megapixels
You might have heard about some cameras that say their "interpolated" megapixels allow you capture double the number of megapixels. How does this work? In cameras with interpolated megapixels, an additional pixel of information is created by the camera for every actual pixel captured by the camera's sensor. A camera that only captures 4 megapixels (2 pixels for each square) per photograph can interpolate the image up to 8 megapixels (since the number of pixels are doubled). What do you get? An 8 megapixel camera for the price of a 4 megapixel camera! What a great deal! There is a limitation here. The camera is not actually capturing the extra pixels, but it is "guessing" about how they should look. This artificial enhancement of the image creates artificial results. If you pay attention to detail, you can see that interpolated images are not as clear as non-interpolated ones.
When you need more megapixels
You will need a camera with a lot of megapixels in the following cases: want to make large prints of your photos, create high resolution greeting cards, print images in a magazine. Magazines and other print media have higher print requirements than a home printer used for snapshots of your latest vacation.
This table shows the relationship between megapixels and print size:
| Megapixels | Print Size (inches) |
| 2.0 | 4 x 6 [standard] |
| 3.0 | 5 x 7 |
| 4.0 | 8 x 10 |
| 5.0 | 9 x 12 |
| 6.0 | 11 x 14 |
| 8.0 | 12 x 16 |
When you need less megapixels
COST
If you take two digital cameras that are essentially identical to each other with the exception of the number of megapixels (and they do exist) the camera with more megapixels will always cost more. Sometimes up to $100 more. Make sure that you need the extra megapixels before paying the extra expense.
FILE SIZE
When you take a photo with a digital camera, the image is saved onto a removable memory card . These removable memory cards come in a variety of different storage capacities. Following table will show you how many photos you can store on a 16 MB card:
| Megapixels | Number of Photos |
| 2.0 | About 22 |
| 3.0 | About 10 |
| 4.0 | About 8 |
| 5.0 | About 6 |
| 6.0 | About 4 |
| 8.0 | 1 to 2 |
Every digital camera with a lot of megapixels allows you to take photographs at a lower setting. With a 5.0 megapixel camera, you will also be able to take photos at 2.0 megapixels if you want to e-mail them to friends.
