Size of Picture
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Pixel Count
One of the main ways that manufacturers categorize their digital cameras is in terms of pixel count. This is the number of individual pixels that go into making each image. Today this number varies between 1 million (1 Megapixel) to around 14 million (14 Megapixels). A million pixels is abbreviated to MP, so a 1MP camera has 1 million pixels and a 3MP camera has 3 million pixels. Currently most popular consumer digital cameras have between 2MP and 5MP. A 3MP camera can make excellent 4”x6” prints and very good 5”x7” prints. If you intend to make lots of 8”x10” prints, then perhaps a 4MP or 5MP camera would be a better choice. Sometimes two numbers are given, total pixels and effective pixels. Total pixels count every pixel on the sensor surface. Usually the very edge pixels aren’t used in the final image. Effective pixels are the number of pixels actually used in the image after the edge pixels have been dropped.
Largest Image (typical)
Print size at 320dpi
Print size at 240dpi
3MP
2048 x 1536
6.5” x 4.8”
8.5” x 6.4”
4MP
2272 x 1712
7.1” x 5.4”
9.5” x 7.1”
5MP
2592 x 1944
8.1” x 6.1”
10.8” x 8.1”
Storage of Images on a Digital Camera
A digital camera stores the pictures it takes on a memory card. Common cards found in current digital cameras are SmartMedia, Compact Flash and Memory Stick. (Note: The Sony Mavica stores pictures on a floppy disk.)
A memory card is measured by its memory size, in megabytes (MB). The more memory the card has the more images it can hold. Thus, a 256 MB memory card will be able to hold many more images than a 32 MB memory card.
128MB Memory
256MB Memory
512MB Memory
3MP
116
232
464
4MP
87
174
348
5MP
70
140
280
6MP
58
116
232
The number of images placed on a card can vary based on the following factors:
•Compression
•Resolution
•Photographic Conditions
Compression
When a digital camera takes a picture, a very large file is created that holds the image. A picture produced from a
Good, Better, Best or… Normal, Fine, Superfine
The default on most digital cameras will be either “better” or “fine”. While the amount of compression a camera does will vary from camera to camera, generally a
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