How many megapixels do I need?

As camera technology improve and megapixels get higher and higher, sometimes we ask ourselves, how much megapixels do we really need. The first digital camera I bought 6 years ago was 1 megapixel and that was one of the top of the line consumer camera. So for the same price today I could have gotten one at 5 megapixels. So you can get a low-end branded digital camera, lets say a Kodak EasyShare CX7330 for just under $100.00! And low-end today is 3 megapixels! It just makes no sense paying more for something you will never use.

It all depends what you intend to do with the pictures you take. So this are a few points to know whether you should go for higher resolution:

You intend to print the pictures large

You intend to crop the image

You intend to print the pictures large

In a nut shell:

For web and email, photos 1 - 3 megapixels are good enough.

For any images you plan to print or retouch, you should stick to 3 megapixel resolution or higher

For prints 8x10 or larger, 4-megapixel resolution or higher is a must.