What are Mega Pixels?

Hey there! Did you notice that in the last post, i never mentioned anything regarding mega pixels?
Well, that's cause its not really important. Let me explain. (WARNING: Technical Stuff!)
A Pixel is a tiny single "data dot" that stores information about the three primary colors used in digital imaging: Red, Blue and Green - RGB. In any image, LCD screen or monitor, these pixels are arranged in perfect straight lines, vertically and horizontally to make a line of data in that direction. For example, your computer's screen resolution defaults to 1024x768 pixels. This means that there are 1024 Columns and 768 Rows of Pixels. Hence the number of pixels that are being used are 1024 multiplied by 768. Hence, each pixel carries a sample of the image and more pixels carry more of these samples making the image clearer and bigger at the same time.
More about this here.

What is a Mega Pixel? Its simply one million pixels. So, when a digital camera has 5 Mega pixels, it means the image it makes will have 5 million pixels in total. Lets take the example of my Nikon D40. Its a 6.1 MP camera. Which means six million pixels. How can i be sure? Its easy. The images i get from the camera are 3000x2000 pixels. Which means 6 million pixels. I Hope you get the idea now. So, when a camera is 12 MP, it is capable of making an image of size approximately 4000x3000 pixels. Note: Its not double of 6MP!! Double would be 6000x4000! So 12MP is not really much bigger than 6 MP. All this may not even be necessary to you. Then why bother? Sure more mega pixels means bigger and higher resolution pictures. But doesn't matter.

Why? Well, how many of you have bought an 8 MP pocket camera, then shot a bunch of pictures and then printed them?? I don't think anyone has. When i had a pocket camera, i shot thousands of pictures and i only printed 10-15 of them at 4x6 inches (regular photo size).
There lies the whole megapixel issue. Mega pixels only matter if you print. More mega pixels means you can print bigger. The truth is that mega pixels are a sales pitch these days and people blindly buy a camera when the salesman says "This one is 10 megapixels! Its the new model!". One can easily make 12x18inch prints out of 6 MP picture. And 12x18 inches is more than enough for the common person like me and you.
With that said, i wont let this post go longer. Mega pixels matter only if you print large. They do not bother with color, tone and saturation which are more important.

Think about finding colorful things to photograph and not how many mega pixels mine or your camera is!

Any questions and i will gladly answer! Happy Clicking!