In digital photography if a camera has a greater amount of mega pixels does that mean better quality pictures.

Answer 1

I'll vote with the NO people. While you obviously can't compare a 2 MP camera to a 10 MP camera, the difference between a 5 and a 6 MP camera might not work out the way you'd expect. You can't even compare "identical" cameras based on how many pixels they have. (See below) The sensor size has a lot to do with it. The "processing engine" (camera software) has a lot to do with it. The lens quality may have even more to do with it. Since you have access to the internet, it is good to look up reviews of cameras and see what they say about image quality for cameras that you are considering.

http://www.popphoto.com/buyingguide/

http://www.steves-digicams.com/best_cameras.html

http://www.dcresource.com/buyersguide/

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/

(Here's "Below")

Here's something interesting I just found that you might like to see. The Nikon D80 and Sony A100 are both 10 MP cameras. Sony makes the sensor for both cameras. Check this out:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos400d/page17.asp

Scroll down to the part where you see sample images. Look at the gray and black bands above the Queen's image. At ISO 100, they pretty much all look smooth and uniform. As you go down the page and ISO is increased, you will start to see some blotches of color in the gray and black. This is noise.

Interestingly, this shows a comparison between the Nikon D80 and the Sony A100, which supposedly have the same sensor. Obviously, Nikon knows how to handle the information from the sensor better than Sony does, even though Sony makes the sensor.

Answer 2

That depends on who you ask. As you already read many posts up there, you can see there are 2 groups of people up there. One group is the average consumer that believe more mega pixels = better quality picture (As most camera manufactures marketing department want them to believe). Another group are those who take photography very serious and will tell you mega pixels is only part of the picture.

I will say the answer is both yes and no. I guess my point is, there is no direct relationship between mega pixel and picture quality. I will take a 6MP DSLR camera with good lens over a 9MP compact camera any day.

Answer 3

It really depends on how you measure "quality". Above a certain number of mega pixels, a larger number will not noticeably improve quality to the naked eye.

It is a bit like listening to MP3 and WAV files or CD's. CD's have a higher sampling rate of sound. However, to most people the sound will be effectively very similar (although the file size on your PC will be smaller)

A quality picture from a digital camera has many other elements to it than just the number of mega pixels. Focus is one of the other elements which a camera can affect. The lens is important too if you are trying to get up close, or shoot from a distance.

Digital zooming is almost pointless on a camera, whereas an optical lens zoom is worthwhile from a quality point of view.

Answer 4

Higher the mega pixels better the quality.
However, for regular photography (amateur) and normal viewing on PC as well as printing standard sizes (even up to 8" x 10") 3 Mega Pixels are more than sufficient. Higher than this really does not matter much for normal use and also the individual photo file sizes becomes large (2 to 3 MB) to handle and send via email or uploading on the web (which is in most cases the reason to go for digital photography).

Answer 5

If a book has a greater number of pages does that mean a better story?

More megapixels means one thing only - a bigger file, with more information. Doesn't mean the information is necessarily any good, just that there's more of it.

All other things being equal, larger filesizes (more MP) allow more possibilities (enlargement, cropping, etc). But all things are rarely equal between cameras.

Honestly, for most folks' circumstances, megapixel count would be near the bottom of my list of things to consider when shopping for a camera. Type/quality of lens, quality of sensor, ISO (sensitivity) range, autofocus performance, low noise - all of those are more important, IMO, than pixel count unless you are looking to make billboard-sized prints.

Answer 6

Oh no. definitely not. More mega pixels means more accessories you have to buy to go with the camera. If you buy a 4 mega pix camera, then you, by default, have to buy 4 accessories (a camera case, tripod, extra zoom, and a handy carrying strap). If you buy a 10 mega pix, then beware you will definitely have to buy 10 accessories before leaving that store or suffer the consequences. I hope this helps, I picked up this info from a really helpful sales guy at Best Buy. ( I have a 6 mega pix) Good luck.

Answer 7

Somewhat true.....a higher megapixel camera will store more details of a picture....that means you can enlarge the picture without it becoming "pixellated"

A 1.3 meg will make a 4x6 picture
A 3 meg will make an 8x10 picture
A 5 meg will make a 15x 20 picture
These are maximum sizes without "Pixellation"

But you also want CCD quality......and quality lenses too....
MOST brand names in the photography industry will not give you bad CCD quality just for the sake of "MORE pixels than Brand X!"

KODAK...Polaroid...Pentax...Fuji....they've been in the photo business for years.....

Can you say the same for.....Harley Davidson??
Yeah, I see cheap Chinese junk try to buy other known brand names to sell their wares.......

Answer 8

I'm with the 'No' camp.

It means bigger pictures, which all else being equal should mean better pictures, but if the rest of the camera can't cut it no amount of mega pixels will make any difference.

Answer 9

Yes, the mega-pixel value represents the amount of memory that is used to store each picture. The more the better. (Pixels are picture elements - the picture is divided into them and so the more, the more detail.)

Answer 10

No.

Everyone is saying yes but I disagree. The vast majority of people don't end up printing their photos and if they do they hardly ever print bigger than the size of a normal photo.

A 4meg camera will produce photos that are sharp to sizes bigger than your average monitor size, in fact almost 1 metre in size. More mega pixels means you can print gigantic photos.
Who does that?

4 megapixels is plenty, most cameras now are more than that.

Quality comes from many more things than the resolution of the image and people are making stacks of money from photos produced on low mega pixel cameras.

Don't be fooled by the hype.