Many people, especially Americans, think that bigger is better, and many times that's true, but not always.

Bigger is better for bank account balances but not necessarily for diamonds for example. A smaller stone with fewer or only tiny flaws looks better and is more valuable than a large one with visible flaws.

But many people are obsessed with numbers such as zoom lens ratios and these days the number of megapixels a digital camera's sensor has.

As I've said in past postings, there are other factors that determine the quality of a digital image besides the number of megapixels. Lens quality, the camera's onboard firmware, and the quality of the camera's digital sensor itself all contribute to the overall result.

Several years ago a friend had her wedding professionally photographed by a pro who used a ten state of the art Canon Rebel 6 mp DSLR.

The results were fabulous and looked as if the pictures were done with a mega bucks film camera such as a Leica or Hasselblad.

Now, we have digital cameras that boast sensors upwards of 13 mp. In fact even I have 8.3 and 9.3 megapixel cameras, modestly prices ones.

Does that mean that I would achieve better results than the pro did a few years ago? No, first off she's a pro and knows how to get the most out of a given camera, so that's a factor.

But the most important thing to keep in mind is that the old Canon has a very good sensor, even if only 6mp, and the camera's lens and processing engine are still considered top notch.

If truly huge prints were wanted then you would start to see some image degradation, but for prints up to say 11X14, 6mp is plenty when combined with good optics and firmware.
Check out this article for some enlightenment about digital cameras and megapixels.

For good measure here's another excellent article about digital cameras and megapixels .

Take a camera with you whenever possible, and look around, you'll find a picture somewhere.

Source:www.microsoft.com