When buying digital cameras one of the important specifications to check is the megapixel count, with more pixels often comes a better digital camera.
Megapixels are each a million sensor pixels, each of which senses when it is hit by photons of light and builds up information about what colour that pixel of the image should be during the exposure. The maximum resolution of photograph a camera can take is restricted by the size of their sensor. The information from all of the pixels is then combined to create a digital image of small blocks, each with colour and light information. Cameras that have too low a megapixel count will show this in their blocky and undetailed images.
It is easy to determine how many megapixels digital cameras have if you know the maximum size of image it can take as the width times the height gives you this number and it can be used as an indication in the opposite manner too from megapixel count to gain an idea of resolution.
There are arguments for and against the advantages of more megapixels with some conditions not favouring higher megapixel counts such as low light levels where too few photons would hit each pixel to give a good image resulting in higher image noise. Higher counts are more demanding on the camera's processor and create larger files resulting in longer processing and upload to storage times, this can limit a photographer's ability to take multiple shots. The larger file size also means a memory card will not be able to store as many shots. Finally very high counts can lead to 'noise', that is adjacent pixels interfering with one another and is visible as pixels that are noticeably off colour compared to those around them, usually creating a speckled appearance on dark parts of the image.
The sensitivity to noise varies from camera to camera, some deal with it better than others making it a good idea to look at sample images or try digital cameras for yourself before buying.
Greater numbers of megapixels allow higher resolution images to be taken which gives better detail and, for less experienced photographers, can be better than a lower megapixel count as it allows images to be cropped, reduced in size, to improve the framing of the subject without losing the detail that makes the photo look professional. How many megapixels you need also depends on what you will use the photographs for, any photograph that will be expanded to display a section of it or displayed in a larger size such as a large print or poster will benefit from having more megapixels in the digital cameras sensor.
Manufacturers use megapixel counts as a marketing tool as consumers perceive them as wholly advantageous so cameras that are higher up in a range of products will have higher megapixel counts and this will be matched with better hardware and lenses.
In summary when looking to buy new digital cameras one of the easiest indications of quality is the megapixel count, though this should not be seen as outweighing the other features of digital cameras it is a good guide to where the manufacturer is aiming the camera in the market.
Higher megapixel cameras are becoming an increasingly popular inclusion on most mobile phones. This can be seen on many new smartphones releases like the LG Optimus 2X.
Megapixels are each a million sensor pixels, each of which senses when it is hit by photons of light and builds up information about what colour that pixel of the image should be during the exposure. The maximum resolution of photograph a camera can take is restricted by the size of their sensor. The information from all of the pixels is then combined to create a digital image of small blocks, each with colour and light information. Cameras that have too low a megapixel count will show this in their blocky and undetailed images.
It is easy to determine how many megapixels digital cameras have if you know the maximum size of image it can take as the width times the height gives you this number and it can be used as an indication in the opposite manner too from megapixel count to gain an idea of resolution.
There are arguments for and against the advantages of more megapixels with some conditions not favouring higher megapixel counts such as low light levels where too few photons would hit each pixel to give a good image resulting in higher image noise. Higher counts are more demanding on the camera's processor and create larger files resulting in longer processing and upload to storage times, this can limit a photographer's ability to take multiple shots. The larger file size also means a memory card will not be able to store as many shots. Finally very high counts can lead to 'noise', that is adjacent pixels interfering with one another and is visible as pixels that are noticeably off colour compared to those around them, usually creating a speckled appearance on dark parts of the image.
The sensitivity to noise varies from camera to camera, some deal with it better than others making it a good idea to look at sample images or try digital cameras for yourself before buying.
Greater numbers of megapixels allow higher resolution images to be taken which gives better detail and, for less experienced photographers, can be better than a lower megapixel count as it allows images to be cropped, reduced in size, to improve the framing of the subject without losing the detail that makes the photo look professional. How many megapixels you need also depends on what you will use the photographs for, any photograph that will be expanded to display a section of it or displayed in a larger size such as a large print or poster will benefit from having more megapixels in the digital cameras sensor.
Manufacturers use megapixel counts as a marketing tool as consumers perceive them as wholly advantageous so cameras that are higher up in a range of products will have higher megapixel counts and this will be matched with better hardware and lenses.
In summary when looking to buy new digital cameras one of the easiest indications of quality is the megapixel count, though this should not be seen as outweighing the other features of digital cameras it is a good guide to where the manufacturer is aiming the camera in the market.
Higher megapixel cameras are becoming an increasingly popular inclusion on most mobile phones. This can be seen on many new smartphones releases like the LG Optimus 2X.
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