One big part of the digital camera is the number of megapixels it has and whether or not it will be enough for the type of photos you want to print.
Basically, megapixels is a unit of measurement in an image. Your digital image is made up of millions of dots (pixels) and the denser the dots, the better your picture will be. The megapixels of a camera is determined by multiplying the number of horizontal pixels by the number of vertical pixels. (Ex: a camera that creates an image at its largest setting of 2,048 horizontal pixels by 1,536 vertical pixels is a 3 Megapixel camera because these two numbers multiplied together equal 3,145,728.)
The number of megapixels will determine the quality of your final photo (denser dots make for sharper lines, colors). If you choose too few, your pictures won’t be what you want them to be.
The higher the number of pixels, the better the resolution. The higher the resolution, the larger and higher quality prints you can make. Higher quality photos take up more space on your media card, but they will give you the best prints. (And remember that you can delete on the fly those that don’t measure up!)
For many people, this is the most difficult part of buying a digital camera. How much is enough and how much is too much? Here are a few pointers to help you along the way. These small megapixel sized cameras are outdated but you may still have them and it is important to understand their capabilities and limitations.
2 megapixels or less
This was typically found on smaller, inexpensive cameras or cameras in combination with other devices (such as earlier cell phones or PDAs).
It will be hard to make a high-quality print of any size, but these are just fine for e-mailing or posting on a personal web site.
Cameras in this range are not recommended for family portraits or if you really need a nice-looking print.
You can make some nice 4 x 6 prints and as large as 5 x 7 with good quality. Anything larger than that will appear blurry or distorted.
3 megapixels
This was actually a good compromise between picture quality and low price for most casual photographers.
You can print lovely 4×6 images, decent 5x7s and, depending on the camera, might even knock out a good 6×9 or 8×10.
4 megapixels
You’re getting nicer. These images make practically photo-lab quality 4x6s, and great 5x7s and 6x9s.
You can print a nice 8×10 and even an 11 x 14.
5 megapixels
This will produce beautiful 8x10s, and even a nice 11×14. You may even be able to get even larger to a 16 x 20.
With this camera, you are getting closer to professional photographer levels, and the quality shows it.
6 megapixels and up (10 – 21.2 MP is the norm these days)
Wonderful image quality, but typically higher price tags. You can print large photos, 11×14 and larger depending on your MP size, with satisfying results.
There are some high-megapixel name brand cameras out with lower price tags than some, but they may have very few features. Be sure to check that out. Unless megapixels are the only thing you care about (hopefully not), be careful about getting an inexpensive camera for its megapixel range only to lose out on other important features.
Yes, I know it would be really cool to get that hot 21.1 megapixel camera (well over $2,000!). Some of those cameras are incredible and have very cool features but, if you’re like the rest of us working stiffs, you don’t want to spend money on extras you don’t need. It’s a lot of money for fancy features you may not use. And I can tell you right now, if you’re just e-mailing pictures to your friends and posting on Face Book, you don’t need those bells and whistles.
There is something else to keep in mind. People get nuts about megapixels and forget to look beyond the “great photo”. For instance, higher megapixels means larger image sizes which equal larger image “files”, which in turn means a need for larger memory cards and, ultimately, more space may be required on your computer’s hard drive for storing these large image files. This does not mean don’t go for it. It just means to be aware. Memory cards are not very expensive anymore and you can either add memory to your computer hard drive (should that be an issue) or get an external hard drive (the latter being easy and inexpensive).
One bit of advice regarding megapixels. If your camera is not set on the largest size and the least compression, you will not be able to enlarge your photos because the information was not recorded (can only record/capture what it is set for). Cameras are typically purchased with default settings for small pictures and high compression, as such settings make the photos easy to email. I mention this because some of the best photos are not planned but are of a momentary happening. You will want the option to enlarge that once-in-a-lifetime shot of whatever so keep your camera set properly for the best capture of data for that camera. I recommend that you set it for its best and leave it alone. You can always make an image file smaller when needed and restore it to size when needed but you can’t “restore” what wasn’t there in the first place. Your settings should include one for Resolution (the largest size possible) and Image Quality (least compression – setting for email is highest compression so go the opposite). Find these settings on your camera’s menu and set them correctly.
