megapixel

A megapixel is one million pixels. Commonly used to indicate the resolution of digital cameras. For example, a 7.2-megapixel camera is capable of capturing approximately 7,200,000 pixels. The higher the megapixel number, the more detail the camera can capture. Therefore, the number of megapixels is an important specification to focus on when buying a digital camera.

A camera's megapixel count is calculated by multiplying the number of vertical pixels by the number of horizontal pixels captured by the camera's sensor, or CCD. For example, the original Canon Digital Rebel camera captures 2048 vertical pixels by 3072 horizontal pixels, for a total of 6,291,456 pixels (2048 x 3072). Therefore, it is estimated to be a 6.3-megapixel camera. The Sony T10 camera captures 3072 x 2304 pixels, for a total of 7,077,888, which means it's a 7.2 megapixel camera (because not all pixels are used).

Megapixels are useful in digital camera marketing because it's easier to say "6.3 megapixels" than "6,291,456 pixels." It's also a little easier to remember. However, while megapixels are important, it's also useful to know other camera specifications. For example, shutter speed, shooting modes, trigger time, flash quality, and color accuracy can also significantly affect camera performance. After all, it doesn't matter how many megapixels your camera has if all your photos are blurry and have bad colors. So while you should check the megapixel count before buying a camera, don't forget to check the other specs as well.