What Is the Best Pixel Number for a Digital Camera?

Video Transcript

"Hey, It's Rokosz, your digital lifestyle expert here talking about the best pixel number for a digital camera. Well before we do that let's talk a little bit about what's a pixel? What's a megapixel? Well a pixel is one picture element. Phrase coined back in 1963 when a researcher from NASA was looking at the picture elements or the picture pieces coming back from shots of the moon and mars. So it's been around a little bit. What we're talking about in a camera though is actually light sensors, how many of the mini light sensors. Your camera is using a CCD or Charged Coupling Device to get that information out. Now some of your biggest amounts of megapixels, one million pixels, nice, are 108 megapixels and that's for an ultra high end. Very expensive unit, about two feet wide. Now they do make a unit up to 500 megapixels and that's designed specifically for use with telescopes for celestial photography. But the rubber hits the road with us as consumers and advocates and enthusiasts of photography and you want to go around, right now at the recording of this clip, one of your best bets is to stay around between 10 and 13 to 15 megapixels. It is a range and even now there's a big difference with it. Contrary to popular belief, bigger is not always better when it comes to megapixels if that's all you're basing your decision on. So for instance just to get a camera this one over here, the Kodak, is got 12 megapixels now at the time of it's purchase that was a massive amount of megapixels for the camera. Produces a beautiful, beautiful picture and has some good options but you can see it's a very small camera. While some Nikon's and Sony big lens cameras were coming out and they were closer to 10 megapixels. Obviously this camera would not have been better than one of the interchangeable lens Sony's or Canon cameras. So you want to take a look at A, just like everything, I make this recommendation constantly, what are you going to use it for? Truly what's it's use and then find options or automations that are going to make your experience that much better. Because when it comes right down to it the difference between 10 megapixels, 12, 15 if you're just using it to take photographs of the family, you're really not going to truly realize the difference. You'll want something that's going to take a crisp picture but also make things easy, be able to pull it out and get little Johnny or grandma's birthday in just the right way. I'm ROKOSZ, your digital lifestyle expert saying pix you later."