How Many Megapixals do You Need?

Digital cameras have a range of features that you will almost certainly recognize if you have owned a traditional 35mm camera. These include zoom lenses and automatic flash.

As there is no film used in a digital camera the method of storing the image though is entirely different. When you take a picture light is captured by the Charge Coupled Device (CCD) and stored as a matrix of red, blue and green coloured squares. These squares are known as pixels.

The big question regarding pixels is how many your camera needs to produce prints of different sizes. The table below can be used as a guide.

How Many Megapixels Do You Need?

Megapixels	Web/Email	4x6"	5x7"	8x10"	11x14"	16x20"
1	VG	No	No	No	No	No
2	VG	O.K.	No	No	No	No
3	VG	G	O.K.	No	No	No
4	Too Many	VG	G	O.K.	No	No
5	Too Many	VG	VG	G	G	O.K.
6	Too Many	VG	VG	VG	G	G
6+	Too Many	VG	VG	VG	VG	VG

Images with too many pixels can still be used for sending by email and displaying on the Internet. To avoid the images taking a long time to display or to send via email they should be optimized first.

This table should only be used as a guide. The values provided are subject to interpretation. For example, my view on a print that is of good quality may differ from yours.