I am buying a digital camera...how many megapixels do I need? Is this a good one?

Question

I saw this one on Best Buy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8257502&type=product&id=1170290184554

Is this a good one?

I have no idea about things like megapixels. But, here's what I plan to do with the camera...I like going to college sports and want to take photos, I cook and like to photograph what I make, I like to take pictures of my family and my pets...I am not a professional or anything like that (obviously), but I love to take lots of photos to share. I had an old digital camera, but it got washed into the ocean at the beach. I have no idea how many megapixels and all that it had, but it was very large and thick. I'd like a smaller camera that I can put in my purse or pocket at games.

Please let me know what you think!

Answer 1

8 megapixels is more than enough. That camera looks like a good one.
Alternatively, Mrs. VE and I have the camera below, and it's a fantastic camera.

Answer 2

I am a photgrapher and I recently purchased the one below in "sources" as my back up for long trips. This camera is excellent! I have heard some not so great things about SOME Kodak Easy-Share cameras. I have been a fan of Canon for many, many years and have never had an issue what so ever with any of the 8 Canon cameras I have owned. The camera below (Canon Powershot A570 IS), has 7.1 megapixels which is more then enough (it's also currently on sale at Best Buy). It takes memory "sticks", and I was able to get a 2G (holds about 1400 pictures) at Best Buy also, for a sweet price of $30.

This Canon has an amazing set of features for the money. Image stabalization, shooting in B&W, vivid, sepia,and other sepcial effects. It has an excellent 16x digital zoom, and you can also purchase from Canon, an extension for the lens that can increase the zoom by I think 32x. For the price and reputation, I would recommend this camera. Oh, yeah, it also comes with editing software.

Since you enjoy taking pictures of food you cook, it also has a Macro setting which is good for taking close-ups. It has a potrait setting, action setting, night mode, and movie mode. It also has settings for various lighting, including indoor, sunny, cloudy, tungsten, and even UNDERWATER, it's awesome!

Good luck and hopefully this helps.

Answer 3

Ok, sports are a different game as opposed to taking pictures of food (cooking) or pets. Sports require a fast shooting camera (takes pictures fast....more pictures per minute the better for sports).

As for sports, it really depends on what action you plan to capture, if its the base runner sliding into home plate then no, that camera is not good enough, but if you back in the stands and want to capture your son running down the field with your football then yeah, thats probably going to be ok. If it's the up close stuff then I suggest getting nothing less than this: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8297513&type=product&id=1172881524725.

For the cooking, that camera you gave the link to initially was just fine, you'll get clarity out of that.

It really depends on what you plan to shoot, and how close.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

More megapixels the better the picture? Don't believe it. My camera is 6 megapixels with 12
x optical zoom and I get an excellent 8X10 print. Same for my daughter who uses a 5 megapixel camera, at 10 X optical zoom. There are cameras out there with just 4 megapixels that produce an excellent 8X10. Only if you do a lot of cropping or enlarge photos more than 8X10 would you need 8,9,10 megapixels.
Three cameras with lots of zoom you can probably get at a reasonable price because I believe the're being phased out are:
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H2 (my camera) 6 MP,12X optical
Fujifilm FinePix S5200 10X optical zoom, 5 megapixels
Canon PowerShot S2 IS 5 MP 12X optical zoom
Canon PowerShot S3 IS 6 MP, 12X optical zoom
Another very good camera Canon PowerShot A630 4X optical zoom, 8 MP

Answer 5

I am an art student doing my deploma for fine arts and photography is one of my subjects. I love it.

Now with digital cameras, i have a small travel one with a optical zoom of 3x and four mega pixles. Now this one works for me with every day things like family photos and stationary objects. The quality, sometimes leaving the image blury and pixilated, is not the best but for home use it dose me well, plus if it is stolen i can easily replace it.

There are new digi cameras out that have six mega pixles, the quality of these are quite good, and turn out clearer, sharper with a larger colour range giving a greater depth.

But for you, since you are wanting to take sporting photos, i would suggest a digi SLR camera. They can be a little pricy, but if you shop around you are sure to find a deal. They are the best of both worlds for me and i love mine ( LOVE IT ). They are more flexable in their settings allowing you to take a whole range of shots and control the exposure of the shot itself. You can change the focal lenses to be able to zoom into the far off distance, so if you are stuck high up in the grand stand you are still abel to get shots as if you were on the field yourself. The only thing that you will need to do is read the manual and make sure you know how to use the settings, apieture, focus and shutter spead, but once you know you wont forget and you have so much fun with all the different shots you can take.
i think that for you, and for what you want to do, i believe that the digi SLR would be the way to go. And the best thing is that if you treat it well and look after it, it becomes a life time investment. I couldent do with out mine, it was the best thing that i did, even though it took me a month to save up for it.

Just remember to always support the camera under the lense and invest in a universal stand/Tripod for it. Makes some shots easier.

Answer 6

The first digital cameras were big as compared to the newer ones. Megapixels is the tiny little sensors that captures the image. The more pixels, the better the picture. Especially when enlarged. For amature picture taking I would suggest something around 5 to 6 mp's. Also if you are going to down load onto computer, anything higher and you need to check with the computer store to make sure you're computer can handle it. (That's what I've been told.)

Answer 7

I think it will be a good camera for you.

What you are going to do with the pictures makes a lot of difference in the camera you need. If you are going to use it to post pictures on the computer then anything over 3MP is wasted. The computer will automatically compact the file. If you want to make prints of normal use then 3+MP will do just fine. If you want high quality prints then the 8MP will do just fine for that.

To post high quality pictures on the net or even your own computer takes a lot of bytes and most all programs will reduce the picture to less than one MP. You will have to tell them to make them full quality. Seldom is used and not practical on the net.

Answer 8

Hi SAH, I bought a Pentax Optio E-10, and I love it, wal mart $69.00, it has 6 mp (megapixels) which is great,auto zoom lens (3x zoom) a 2.5 in. LCD monitor, a mode dial with 8 settings, that you can set to take different speed shots such as sports,landscape,portrait,night scenes,simple, but my favorite is the movie mode,this is a digital camera that you can make movies with, like a cam cord er, I can also connect to my PC or TV to watch play back. Check it out, its well worth it ...

Answer 9

A 5 to 8 MP camera would work great for the type of pictures you take. The Kodak camera at best buy would be a good one.

Good luck.

Answer 10

If it's a Nikon, Canon or olympus, 6 MP is enough..
for Kodak 8 MP and above it's good.
I am sales supervisor of Kodak Olympus and Sony Cameras in Beirut, and i prefer Olympus and Nikon the most

Answer 11

I am not a big fan of Kodak EasyShare camera's... but that one is not bad.

You want at least 7 megapixels, rechargable battery (not AA's), and fast shutter speed and recoil speed (time it takes before you can take another picture)

I like the Sony DSC-W80 or Canon 1000