digital camera resolution

[EagleEye]

Am I correct in that a 3.2 megapixel camera doesn't have as good of resolution as a 8 megapixel camera?
Steve

[Mikey]

Wish I could help you.  I believe it was Jerry who used to have a signature that read something like: "I'm an analog guy trapped inside a digital world..."

megapixels or megabytes.............it's all Greek to me.....   

[maryvonne]

Yes Steve, you are correct.

maryvonne

[Jerry]

I did read a review that said pixels were not as important as many think.

I am still an analog guy trapped in a digital world.
I saw a magnificent TV stand at costco, went home and measured, perfect!  Then I saw all those wires that would have to be reconnected!

[livetogarden]

Jerry,
  You hire a young neighbor kid to put those wires back for you. Apparently they all know how to do that where us 'older folks' don't. 
Cath

[Jerry]

Cath EXACTLY RIGHT!

[Mikey]

We recently purchased a new lcd tv and a surround sound system/dvd.  I took one look at all the wires and pages and pages of instructions and told my wife,

"Let the boy do it when he gets home...."

[froginthepond]

You bet 4.8 better

[Timgod]

Howstuffworks.com gives the following information.

Resolution
The amount of detail that the camera can capture is called the resolution, and it is measured in pixels. The more pixels a camera has, the more detail it can capture and the larger pictures can be without becoming blurry or "grainy."

Some typical resolutions include:

1600x1200 - With almost 2 million total pixels, this is "high resolution." You can print a 4x5 inch print taken at this resolution with the same quality that you would get from a photo lab.
2240x1680 - Found on 4 megapixel cameras -- the current standard -- this allows even larger printed photos, with good quality for prints up to 16x20 inches.
4064x2704 - A top-of-the-line digital camera with 11.1 megapixels takes pictures at this resolution. At this setting, you can create 13.5x9 inch prints with no loss of picture quality.

How Many Pixels?
You may have noticed that the number of pixels and the maximum resolution don't quite compute. For example, a 2.1-megapixel camera can produce images with a resolution of 1600x1200, or 1,920,000 pixels. But "2.1 megapixel" means there should be at least 2,100,000 pixels.
This isn't an error from rounding off or binary mathematical trickery. There is a real discrepancy between these numbers because the CCD has to include circuitry for the ADC to measure the charge. This circuitry is dyed black so that it doesn't absorb light and distort the image.
The most you can afford comfortably is your best bet. You can always shrink a bigger pic or crop it but scaling up never works without photoshop and algorithm filter software. And then it is still "iffy." Most people who want a point and shoot experience get a 4 megapixel camera. My family members are fine with that. I use a Canon Rebel and a Canon 20D for more control over my shots.
Tim

[Jerry]

Good info Tim, now tell me how to set the resoloution!
yes. i looked at the man @O@ual.

[Timgod]

If you have bought a digital camera you don't actually set the resolution... like picking a shutter speed. Most cameras have a variety of settings to save space on memory cards. Look at you camera guide to see the sizes available... Pick one, multiply the pixel sizes to get a resolution... ie...my 20D's highest is 3504*2336 = 8185344. Thats basically 8.1 Megapixels.
Let me know if you got any more questions.

[Jerry]

Thanks Tim  it is a Nikon cool Pix 995.
The manual is not the easiest lone i've seen

[Timgod]

I got the following from here...
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2001_reviews/nikon995.html

Your camera can take the following sizes... I put the Megapixel equivalent out to the right
FULL (2,048 x 1,536)           3.145728   Megapixels
UXGA (1,600 x 1,200)          1.920000   Megapixels
SXGA (1,280 x 960)             1.228800    Megapixels
XGA (1,024 x 768)                .786432   3/4 Megapixels
VGA (640 x 480)                   .307200   1/3 Megapixels
3:2 (2,048 x 1,360)             2.785280   Megapixels

 Quality - Select image quality by pressing or press and hold and rotate command dial to change the image size.

If you are using a 32 Mb card and you are taking 3.2 Megapixels you can basically take 10 shots before your card is full. If you take
them at SXGA 1.3 Megapixels then you can take 26.
Like I said before... you can always crop and get rid of extraneous photo data but you can't fake pixels that well so go for the best you can in each shot. With that being said though, if you are just taking snapshots to send to the web then just try to match the size you would like your recepients to view on their monitors...1280*960...1024*768....640*480...etc.etc.

[EagleEye]

Very good explanation Tim,
Thanks,
Steve

[Timgod]

Happy to help
Tim

[Jerry]

Yes indeed, Excellent!