What Does Megapixel Mean?
If you have ever shopped for a digital camera, you have noticed that every camera includes a prominent notation of the number of megapixels it uses. While you have likely realized that more is better, you may not know what a megapixel actually is and what it means for your pictures. Read on for a definition and background information.
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Identification
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Before considering the megapixel, you'll need to consider the pixel. In digital images, the pixel is the smallest component of the image and exists as a tiny square dot. Think of it like the atom of a digital image. An image is formed from millions of these tiny little square dots. A megapixel is a unit composed of one million pixels.
Function
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Resolution is defined by the number of megapixels that a camera uses. Resolution is viewed as a formula such as 1600 x 1200. This equation relates to the number of pixels on the horizontal axis and vertical axis and when the numbers are multiplied it will equate to the number of megapixels on the camera. If you do the math in this equation, you'll get 1,920,000 or 1.92 megapixels, which is rounded up and considered a 2 megapixel camera.
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Significance
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The more pixels that are in an image, the higher the resolution of the picture and the better it will look. This is why a camera that has more megapixels is considered to be higher quality. Megapixels also determine the size of a picture that you can print while maintaining a quality, realistic image. Follow the second link for a chart of suggested megapixels/resolutions for picture sizes. If you choose a camera with too little megapixels/too low resolution, you'll get a fuzzy, poor quality image when trying to print larger photos.
Considerations
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Although instinct may tell you to buy the camera with the most megapixels that you can afford, extra megapixels may not be necessary. If you don't intend to print large photos, the extra megapixels may be a wasteful expense, especially if you will be primarily using your computer to view photos.
Potential
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Pixels are not just used for digital cameras but also digital devices that display images. Your computer screen monitor uses a number of megapixels to display the images that you view on screen as does a digital television.
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Comments
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megapixel are like atom of a picture. If a picture has 2 pixels only in a 3 foot by 2 foot picture..its just pixel of that very image (which is not possible...may be ) and the image is not clear..and if same 3 foot by 2 foot photo has 4000 x 3000 pixels = 12000,000(12 megapixels) the image has clear and sharp image because every atom/pixel illuminates light or shadows which makes better quality..hope I did itright...
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What does the size of matrix (in Mega Pixels) of a photo camera mean?
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What does the size of matrix (in Mega Pixels) of a photo camera mean?
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give a proper definition of mega pixel, there is not a proper definition of mega pixel.
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10 mega pixel means a photograph consisting of 10,000,000 dots. It has nothing to do with size
