What exactly is a megapixel?

Question

My camera is 7.2 megapixels, and was wondering what that means. I know they're a measurement of the cameras photo quality, but what exactly is a megapixel and how is it measured? And professionals who take pictures of landscapes and stuff and make tons of money, around what megapixels are their cameras?

Answer 1

A megapixel is a million pixels. Each pixel is made up of three primary colored dots itself. And through some computer magic it can see the scene and activate and mix the colors, 7.2 million times to make a picture. It's measured by how many little holes they fill with dots when they biuld the camera's sensor.





Professionals use large format film for landscapes. Gregory Crewdson does and makes $60,000 per print. Alec Soth also uses large format. His most famous work was of Niagara Falls. He is also known for a street photography project in Columbia with 35mm film. Annie Leibovitz is known to use Hasselblad medium format film cameras. Sebastiao Salgado also uses Leica. Joel Meyerowitz did the entire 9/11 clean up with large format.



Everyone who makes alot of money was doing it way before 1997. Digital only has come close to being capable of fine art in the past 2 years, dare I say. You might make some good money doing staff for a magazine but the tons of money, art guys all use film.

Answer 2

Megapixels is the number of individual dots that build up the pictures. One mega-pixel is one million dots. Bear in mind, 3 mega pixels prints fantastic 4x6 standard photos. The number is a selling ploy. The issue is in the camera itself. It simply does a terrible job. Consider replacing it (or returning it if you can). Visit a good camera store. All good camera store will have over 30 cameras to pick from and knowledgeable staff. It is definably worth the extra $10 you might pay. You should consider the lens quality, focal length, exposure, automatic modes, white balance, and macro aspects. If you can't try out the camera where you go, go somewhere else. In my store, Panasonic is an excellent balance of quality versus price. Nikon and Canon are good, but they're cheap models are a tad, well cheap. You should expect to spend at least $200 on a decent digital camera. Note: More mega-pixels can make images worse. The more pixels, the smaller the pixel on the sensor gets. This can lead to a dramatic increase in photographic noise. It's like watching a staticy TV signal, but in a picture. 6-8 mega-pixels is the recommended range for compact cameras. There are good compacts with more mega-pixels, but generally more isn't always better. Test out the camera in store.

Answer 3

I like what the first guy said. 95% the photographer. Too many people walk in and ask why our cameras are only 10MP and not 12 or 14 or higher. "I want the highest best mp because that's what makes the pictures AWESOME!" I try my hardest from time to time to not laugh at them, but sometimes that little chuckle slips out. lol. In fact Canon and Nikon have toned down the MP on some of their cameras (G11 & P100) to allow for greater sensitivity to light. Lower number of pixels on a sensor means bigger pixels and more sensitivity vs the same size chip with more pixels that are smaller and less sensitive (which gives you more noise in low light). There are other variables to that but that's the gist of it. And if good weather conditions, yes, a 12mp camera will give you cleaner photos than a 8mp camera, especially when you print them out at certain large sizes. Variables variables variables.



And what the second guy said, film is still the king. But some high end D-SLR's are pushing 18MP.....24MP... and higher I think,but the camera has soooo many other features that the mp is simply a spec of dust as to how the pictures comes out, like i said, doesnt take too many MP to print an ad in a magazine thats 8x11 or just a thumbnail. Then theres LENSES, but thats a whole nother story

Answer 4

Just to add a little insight, the pixel has no standardized dimensions. So a the number of mega-pixels is not equal to photo quality. The larger more expensive DLSRs have larger sensors which lead to larger pixels which lead to better ability to take better pictures. But, like Jim A said, its the ability of the photographer and not the camera that makes the picture.



12.1 million 2 micron pixels will not preform as well when recording light as 12.1 million 5.6 micron pixels.



Larger sensor = larger pixels = better capability.

Answer 5

To answer the first part a pixel is a dot. Each photo, film or digital, is made up of millions of dots.

Your computer screen also is dots. Mega (million) means one million pixels. Conversely your sensor has 7.2 million pixels.



No pros do not make their money based on the mega-pixels in their cameras. They make money because they have the eye and talent to frame an excellent photo. Actually 95% of any good photo is with the photographer... the camera really has very little to do with it.



Quality is important yes but it's the person behind the camera that makes all the difference. Too many people expect todays cameras to be magic bullets but that's not how it is. Trust me that piano player in the concert you went too not long ago didn't start his craft yesterday. The same with photography. I've been at this for 30-years and I learn something every time I pick up my camera.