Buying a Digital Camera: Resolution Explainedby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 31 Aug 2007 10:12 AM If you are shopping for a new digital camera, no doubt that you are looking at resolution and megapixels. But what does it all mean? Here is a thorough guide to this important digital camera feature. What are megapixels? The megapixel count of a digital camera has to do with the resolution capability of the camera, or in other words, how sharp and clear your photos will be. Each image is made up of megapixels. Think of a modern artist who makes up his masterpieces using only colored dots. The more (and smaller) dots he uses, the sharper and more detailed his picture will be. If he uses too few dots, why you might not be able to tell what the picture is at all. It will look less focused. The same is true for digital cameras. The more dots it uses to record your photo, the sharper the photo will be. In general, the higher the number of megapixels, the more memory it will take to store the photo. For that reason, most digital cameras come with adjustable resolution, so you can step it down a notch or two and store more photos. When digital cameras are advertised, they usually tell you the maximum resolution that can be used with the camera. So how much resolution do you need? The higher your resolution, the easier it is to blow up your photo to massive print sizes.The good news is that even digital cameras that only come 5 megapixels can produce photos that will remain relatively sharp in an 11 x 14 print. If you will mostly be taking snapshots that will be used for e-mail, websites, scrapbooking and general photos albums, then a 5 megapixel camera will be just fine. It doesn't hurt to go larger, but keep in mind that you will need to make sure that you have a good size memory card to store the larger file sizes. And, you may need the help of a photo editor on your computer to reduce the file sizes for your photos to ensure easy e-mail and downloads. Look for more articles about digital cameras coming soon. Mary Ann Romans also writes for the Frugal Living Blog here at Families.com, where she shares money saving tips for today's families. Related Articles: Digital Camera Tips: Getting A Sharper Image Digital Camera Tips: Working with Light Digital Camera Tips: Taking Portraits Digital Camera Tips: Taking Multiple Shots Digital Camera Tips: Photographing Scenery Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantcomputers tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Community Tags digital camera, how to buy a digital camera, megapixels, resolution Discuss this article
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