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What the heck is a megapixel?
Mega is a prefix that means million. A pixel refers to the element on the CCD that
captures light. Thus a 4 megapixel camera has approximately 4 million sensing elements
on its CCD.
The megapixels a camera has nothing to do with the size of the image, but has everything
to do with resolution. You can get a print of any size with any camera, but the image
quality will be better the higher the resolution.
Here is an extreme example:
1600x1200 pixels 80x60 pixels
The following is a guide to the maximum size of pictures from common cameras:
2-megapixel - 1600x1200
3-megapixel - 2048x1536
4-megapixel - 2272 x 1704
5-megapixel - 2568 x 1928
6-megapixel - 3072 x 2000
8-megapixel - 3264 x 2448
11-megapixel - 4064 x 2704
The higher the number of pixels, the greater the need for storage. An image stored in a 4
megapixel camera takes twice the memory space as does that from a 2 megapixel camera.
Cameras can take pictures in lower resolution. For example, a 4 megapixel camera can be
set to take pictures in 2 megapixel or 1 megapixel mode. The only advantage to this is the
reduction in required storage space; more pictures will be stored on the memory card. For
example, a four megapixel camera will take pictures at 2272 x 1704 and also 1600x1200
as a 2-megapixel camera would. When would you want to cut down the resolution? If
you know that you are producing photos for the web or eBay or any purpose where
resolution is not needed, go ahead and use the lower resolution. Otherwise, shoot at the
highest resolution of your camera.