The megapixel myth

A few month back someone ask me what camera he should buy. His requirement was to have at least 7 mega pixel camera. I had taugh time explaning to him that image resolution(number of pixel) has little to do with image quality. I don't know which camera he brought. To me a 3 mega pixel is enough for daily used unless am trying to print a wall size picture.

There are many people who have the same perception about mega pixel.Let me try to explain why megapixel has nothing to do with picture quality.

Pixel:
Pixel is the smallest element representing a picture. Pixel stand for picture element. They are arranged horizontally and vertically.






Megapixel:

Megapixel (pixel count) is the multiplication of horizontal pixel with the vertical pixel. So a 3 MP will have

2,048 (horizontal) x 1,536 (vertical) pixels, or 3,145,728 pixels. Megapixel are a square function so a small difference in megapixel are unimportant. A 40% increase in horizontal pixel double the pixel count. So a double pixel count increase the real horizontal pixel by 40%.

Image Resolution:
Image resolution is how much pixel are stored horizontally and vertically in a storage medium. A 3 MP camera will have 2048 pixel horizontally and a 14 MP camera will have 4500 pixel. The vertical pixel are much lower. There is no much difference between the number of pixel stored.

Print Resulution:
Print resolution how much pixel you have per inch in the print paper. Most print will have 300 dpi (dot per inch). This did not have anything to do with the camera.


The Myth:
The myth that a higher megapixel camera has better quality then a lesser megapixel camera was created by camera makers. They used is because its easy to increase the megapixel. A 40% increase in linear pixel double the megapixel.
Manufacturer tend to squeeze a large pixel in a small image sensor, which tend to degrade the pixel quality.So more important then megapixel is the pixel quality. A more sensitive high quaity image sensor with lower megapixel will give better image then a higher megapixel.










NB: if you are interested in buying my camera let me know hehehehe