If you are looking for a digital camera, you no doubt have been met with the term megapixel, or MP. This probably sounds like a foreign language, but there is no reason to fear the terms. Instead, with some patience and careful research it is possible to really understand what a megapixel is, and what it means for your pictures. The first thing you should understand is all digital cameras have a MP or megapixel rating.
In digital photography megapixel tell you how many pixels your picture has, which directly relates to how large you can make your picture. If you have a camera that only has a 2MP size, you are going to be lucky to make that picture the size of a stamp. However, a camera that has a 6MP rating will be able to give you a gigantic poster sized picture that you can treasure forever, and see from more than 2 inches away. However, you should also realize that megapixel size will also affect your picture quality.
For example, a picture taken from the exact same distance with a 4MP and a 6MP camera are going to look very different. The 6MP camera will have much less blur and will be a crisp and sharp picture. Many digital cameras now come with sizes as large as 10MP without breaking the bank. You can purchase cameras with 10MP for as little as a few hundred dollars.
If you are looking for digital photography success with making large poster sized portraits then you really need to splurge the money on a camera with a high megapixel rating. You should never select a camera smaller than 7MP if you are planning on poster-sized prints. However, if you are only planning on doing pictures to a maximum size of 8x10 then you can stay to a camera in the 6MP and smaller range.
As you can see, the megapixel size you select has a huge impact on how much digital photography success you will really have. If you do not have very many needs for an advanced digital camera then you can save the money and just purchase a cheaper digital camera with a smaller megapixel size. However, if you want your camera to last as long as possible, and grow with all of your potential needs then splurging for the advanced camera can be a very good long term investment.
Chris Wight has been dabbling in photography since he was child playing in his dad's darkroom. You can learn more about digital photography at his site: http://www.digitalphotosuccess.com
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