Is there a big difference beetween the quality of photos taken with cameras of varying megapixel ammounts?

Question

I would like to know, since I am looking for a camera. Based on what I think my dad will buy into, I have about 7-10 mgpx to work with.

I am deeply interested in photography, so I want a very good camera. I'm not interested in enlarging my photos much, but I want to know what type of camera is going to give me a good aperture and focus control; As in, I like my pictures to have parts of them heavily blurred, and others very sharp.

So basically, are megapixels going to make a big difference in the quality and sharpness of my pictures? And if I'm looking for a good "focus control", what am I looking for exactly? What controls that? The lense? What?

Oh! By the way I'm getting a DIGITAL camera. Thank you!!

Answer 1

You have to be getting a digital if you're inquiring about megapixels. You mentioned 7 to 10 megapixels, "That's a Plenty" as the song goes.

Suggestions would be Canon PowerShot A630. 3X optical zoom,8 megapixels. Another excellent camera is the

Fujifilm FinePix E900. 4X optical zoom, 9 megapixels.

Answer 2

More megapixels is better, of course, everything else being the same. But not as much as you might think. Check out this article, 'The Megapixel Myth":



http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm



I would think 7-10 mp would be great. The CCDs get better all the time so the standard keeps going up. I have a 5 megapixel camera and I do 8x10 enlargements that look as good as 35mm.



The thing about more megapixels is that it allows you more freedom in cropping. You don't always use all of a picture, so you want to be able to blow it up bigger sometimes. This is less important these days with 12x optical zoom, but still something to think about. Also my camera has image stabilization, which is very nice, especially at high zooms where 'camera shake' is a bigger factor, and in low-light situations where you need slower shutter speeds.



It's good that you already realize that you want to be able to control focus, shutter speed and f-stop yourself. The better cameras will let you do this, though the automatic modes are getting better all the time. But sometimes you want to blur out a background or freeze motion or get the most depth of field, so it's nice to have control over these things.



You probably want a digital SLR. They are relatively big and clumsy but they have a lot of technical advantages for taking good pictures. More resolution, interchangeable lenses, etc.



You also want to become good friends with Photoshop or similar photo-editing software. Almost any photo you take will benefit from at least adjusting levels, brightness and contrast. It's so easy with Photoshop that I don't see why anyone would want to do it the old fashioned way in a darkroom.



Photoshop is best, but it's a professional tool and has lots of features that you might not use, plus it's EXPENSIVE. But Adobe makes two simper versions, Photoshop Deluxe and Photoshop Elements, that have most of the functionality and are easier to learn.

Answer 3

If you always plan and compose your pictures perfectly, you don't need a whole lot of pixels. These days, I'd say that 5 MP or even 4 MP is fine for the average snapshooter and this can be obtained without unreasonable expense. If you want to allow for cropping, which means enlarging only a portion of your image, the more pixels the better.



Imagine taking a scenic view and then noticing that the middle 20% of the photo would make an even better picture. Suppose you take a picture of a whole group of people and Aunt Clara really, really looks great in the picture, but everyone else looks lousy. If you have the pixels to work with, you can still make a decent print of Aunt Clara that she would be happy to have. If you buy an 8-to-10 MP camera and don't want to TAKE large photos, you can always set the camera to a lower file size. You can never go the other direction, though. Unless the cost is a major issue, buy the camera with more pixels. You will never be sorry that you did, but you might one day be sorry that you didn't.



I have a few photos on Flickr to include in a discussion on how many pixels are enough. Go to my page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/ Near the top, click on "tags." In the "Jump to" box, enter the word "Pixels" and then press the "GO" button. Some of the pictures are from a 4 MP or even 3 MP camera, showing you what you might expect without any cropping. I think they are quite acceptable. Some of the pictures are from a 10 MP camera (the swan and the pansies), showing the value of having those large images so that you can crop a smaller image out of the original picture and still end up with a satisfactory image. There is one VGA picture, just to show what you could expect from 640 x 480 pixels - not much.



Ken Rockwell has an interesting article on pixels and the pixel wars: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm



Having said all that, though, pixels are not the only measure of image quality. The sensor size is important as well as the image processing software included in the camera. (See http://www.flickr.com/photos/7189769@N04/476181751/

You need to read reviews if you want a critical understanding of image quality for particular cameras. Try http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/ for more information on the cameras you are considering. Pixels are not the decision maker, but they are the tie breaker, so go for the higher pixel count.



You can go there and click on "Buying Guide" and then "Features Search" to specify how many pixels you want to look at.



You can also go to http://www.steves-digicams.com/default.htm and click on "Our reviews," where you will find catagories of cameras arranged by pixel count.

Answer 4

once above 5-6 M-Pix there is not much difference really. I have both a 6 and a 10 and i can't tell the difference except when blown up 3 feet by 5 feet (and i have done it on both, they look great) but i have an older 6 M-Pix that is far worse than my newer 6 M-Pix. i have learned that the quality of the camera is MUCH more important than the M-Pix number. Like you said, the lense does control that, and i have many pro friends that have amiture cameras but pro lenses and their results are great. if i were just starting uot i would buy a mid line Nikon (D40, D80) or Canon (20D, 30D) and save for better lenses in the future.

Answer 5

The biggest difference in digicam image quality is not between low- and high- megapixel cameras, but between compact cameras and DSLRs.



DSLRs make cleaner, more detailed images because their larger sensors have a better signal-to-noise ratio and require less noise reduction processing.



A high pixel count in a small sensor can actually produce images much worse than a low-pixel DSLR, even at moderate ISO.



As for focus control, you're referring to "narrow depth of field". While DOF involves many factors, one of the chief determinants ls lens focal length.



Compact digicams have very short focal lengths (7mm is not uncommon) which means they give enormous depth of field.



In general, if you want to start getting the effects you speak of, you'll need DSLR lenses 70mm and up, with large maximum apertures like f2.8.



You can obtain similar effects with other lenses, but much depends on other factors such as camera to subject distance.



Hope this helps.

Answer 6

Good advice from Mr. Knowitall.



I'd also add that having more megapixels may lead to more noise in the image. If you have the same sensor size and more megapixels are crammed into it, it will can actually decrease the quality of the image too if the manufacturer didn't do a good job of correcting this.



Megapixels mean image resolution. More megapixels will give you finer detail which you can extract when you crop closer.

Answer 7

my suggestion

go to yahoo shopping

digital cameras

digital camera GUIDE

be sure to check titles on the left side

the guide should answer your questions