The Gadgets Weblog: How Many Megapixels Do You Need?:

Found this over at my former stomping ground (hi Shane!), and it's one of the questions I ask people a lot when I'm helping them decide what camera to buy.

Of course, most of them tend to say either 'lots!' or whatever number is the current high-end of consumer camera.

The reality is, that if you're taking photos for personal memory enhancement (ie, snapshots), or to print as normal sized photos (around the 6 x 4 range), anything around the 3.0 megapixel mark will be more than adequate. Anything over 6 can be printed large - hell, I've had 10 x 15 prints made from photos taken on my 6.0 megapixel D70, and they look great!

Far more important than megapixels is the quality of the sensor and lens, that the feature set of the camera Matches your projected use, and that it's the right size for you to get the most possible use out of it.

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