Digital photo megapixel tutorial
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What is a megapixel?
If you look at the screen in front of you its made up of lots of dots and each of those is actually a pixel, digital photos are the same, they are made up of many dots that together form the picture. The more dots / pixels the better the picture quality and with digital cameras its measured in megapixels. One megapixel would be an image made up of one million pixels. Each of these pixels can be any one of over sixteen million colours (16,777,216 to be precise). Now you can probably see why some picture files are very big!
Different digital cameras use slightly different sizes for different numbers of megapixels, so I have written this little guide to the correct numbers (according to mathematics, not camera makers). This guide is useful for people who do not know how many megapixels their cameras are, just load any photo you have taken into an art package and see how big the photo is in pixels (most programs show the size that way), then look down the list to find the closest numbers and that will tell you roughly how many megapixels your camera is. This guide is also useful for people thinking of buying a new camera, as they can see roughly how big their images will be and can then use my print resolution guide to work out if the quality will be high enough for what they need.
Landscape orientation
(Wider than they are high)
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1155 pixels wide 1633 pixels wide 2000 pixels wide 2309 pixels wide 2582 pixels wide 2828 pixels wide 3055 pixels wide 3266 pixels wide 3464 pixels wide 3652 pixels wide 3830 pixels wide 4000 pixels wide 4163 pixels wide 4321 pixels wide 4472 pixels wide |
866 pixels high 1225 pixels high 1500 pixels high 1732 pixels high 1937 pixels high 2121 pixels high 2291 pixels high 2450 pixels high 2598 pixels high 2739 pixels high 2872 pixels high 3000 pixels high 3122 pixels high 3240 pixels high 3354 pixels high |
1 megapixel 2 megapixel 3 megapixel 4 megapixel 5 megapixel 6 megapixel 7 megapixel 8 megapixel 9 megapixel 10 megapixel 11 megapixel 12 megapixel 13 megapixel 14 megapixel 15 megapixel |
Portrait orientation
(Higher than they are wide)
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866 pixels wide 1225 pixels wide 1500 pixels wide 1732 pixels wide 1937 pixels wide 2121 pixels wide 2291 pixels wide 2450 pixels wide 2598 pixels wide 2739 pixels wide 2872 pixels wide 3000 pixels wide 3122 pixels wide 3240 pixels wide 3354 pixels wide |
1155 pixels high 1633 pixels high 2000 pixels high 2309 pixels high 2582 pixels high 2828 pixels high 3055 pixels high 3266 pixels high 3464 pixels high 3652 pixels high 3830 pixels high 4000 pixels high 4163 pixels high 4321 pixels high 4472 pixels high |
1 megapixel 2 megapixel 3 megapixel 4 megapixel 5 megapixel 6 megapixel 7 megapixel 8 megapixel 9 megapixel 10 megapixel 11 megapixel 12 megapixel 13 megapixel 14 megapixel 15 megapixel |
Please note:
On most cameras you can turn down the resolution, which means you would get lower quality, but can fit more photos on the memory card / camera, if you are trying to use the guide to find out what resolution your camera is then make sure its on the highest setting or you may get the wrong results.
Most digital cameras use a format of 4:3, which means that the height of the photo is three quarters of the width or the width is three quarters of the height depending on which way round the photo is. 35mm film cameras are 3:2, which means that the height of the photo is two thirds of the width or the width is two thirds of the height depending on which way round the photo is. Some digital cameras can photograph in both 4:3 and 3:2 formats, so if your camera is very close to one of the numbers on height, but not on width then that could be the reason. I may add a resolution guide for 3:2 digital formats if there is enough interest in it.
Copyright
This guide was 100% created by Dean Thorpe of Aspex Design, so please feel free to link to it if you think it is useful, but PLEASE do not copy it and use it on your own site, it took a lot of work to create. If you want to print it out for educational reasons then that is fine, just don't claim you created it or make profit out of it. Sorry to sound negative, but I have had a few bad experiences with people selling my creations on eBay!
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