Digital Camera Buying Guide
Digital Camera Buying Guide Home / Find Digital Camera / Digital Camera Resolution

Digital Camera Resolution

A photograph, whether viewed on the screen or printed, is composed of tiny dots (also called pixels). The more of these dots that can fit in a one inch space, the tinier the dots and the sharper the image. Assume you take an image at 100 dpi that is one square inch in size. It is composed of 100 X 100 pixels. It may look good at one square inch. Now blow it up four times to four square inches. Since it still contains the same 100 X 100 dots, it is now only 25 dots per inch. It will now look grainy. Digital camera resolution is a very important factor to take into account when deciding what camera to buy.

Digital camera resolution is measured in Megapixels. One Megapixel is made of one million pixels/dots. The more Megapixels - the higher the resolution the better quality of the photograph. Therefore when buying a digital camera, resolution is one of the most important things you need to take into account. Obviously if you're not going to print your pictures you need not worry about digital camera resolution that much but still you shouldn't go under one Megapixel.


Digital Camera Resolution Chart
Resolution Internet/email 2x3" 4x6" 5x7" 8x10" 11x14" 16x20"
<1 MP 3 2 1 1 1 1 1
1-2 MP 4 3 2 1 1 1 1
2-3 MP 5 4 3 3 2 1 1
3-4 MP Overkill 5 5 4 4 3 1
4-5 MP Overkill 5 5 5 4 4 3
5-6 MP Overkill 5 5 5 5 4 4
>6 MP Overkill 5 5 5 5 5 5

   Bad = 1
   Acceptable = 2
   Good = 3
   Very good = 4
   Excellent = 5
   Overkill

The scheme above should help you when deciding what resolution you'll need.


Find Digital Camera

What Do You Need a Digital Camera For?

Digital Camera Sizes

Digital Camera Zoom

Digital Camera Pixels/Resolution

Digital Camera Storage/Memory Cards


Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Site Map | Link To Us | Related Links | Contact
© 2003 - 2008. All Rights Reserved. Digital Camera Buying Guide