The Megapixel Myth: Is More Really Better?

When people walk into their local gadget store on a mission for a digital camera, it seems most are clueless as to what they are really want. Many start with the Internet, trying to do a little research; and although the term “digital camera” is one of the most popular search terms online, the resulting websites are usually just too difficult to understand. Researchers are faced with a multitude of facts and numbers that mean very little.

However, the one technical term people seem to vaguely understand is Megapixels. And the camera companies want you to think more is always better. Sadly, this isn’t so.

Advertising high megapixel numbers is a way for the camera companies to fool you into buying a more expensive digital camera. The questions you need to ask yourself are “How am I going to use the photos I take? How much am I willing to spend? Do I plan to enlarge my photos? How often will I use my camera?”

In the past, megapixels played a huge role in image quality; and when technology went from one megapixel to two, and two to three; the quality of photographs improved greatly. Unfortunately now, megapixels don’t necessarily make the camera.

Megapixels are measured by how many millions of pixels, or microscopic dots, are displayed in the photo. For example, if your image resolution is 3072 x 2304, then your camera’s megapixels are about 7.1. (Just multiply the resolution numbers.) Essentially, this means that there are more than 7 million pixels placed closely together to make up your photograph.

Generally speaking, if you are like many people, most of your developed photographs will be 4 x 6 or 5 x 7 in size and you might blow up a few 8 x 10’s for framing. If this is the case, then you technically don’t need a camera with more than four or five megapixels. However, if you were to enlarge a photograph taken with a four megapixel camera to 12 x 16 the image would become distorted. But, when is the last time the average soccer mom enlarged a picture to 12 x 16?

The most popular cameras on the market today are about seven megapixels. Seven is a good number because it enables you to enlarge your images to almost any size and it allows the camera to take excellent pictures in several settings like when it is cloudy or under florescent lighting. Additionally, seven megapixels works fairly well on higher ISO settings like 1000 or 1200. ISO settings are equivalent to film speed on a standard 35mm camera. These settings can be changed depending on your situation. Faster ISO should be used for activities like little league games or tennis matches; slower ISOs should be used for poses photos or general everyday use. 

When shopping for a digital camera, don’t let all the technical jibber jabber get in the way. Know what kind of pictures the camera will be used for, how much you want to spend, do a little research, read some reviews and trust the sales person to help you. Just don’t get caught up in the megapixel myth.