For those mature photogaphers who cut their teeth on 35mm film, light meters  and SLR cameras, the whole concept of digital photography and megapixels can be a bit daunting.

 

What is a megapixel and how important is it to the equipment I buy and the quality of my photos.

 

The myth is that the more megapixels your camera has, the better your photographs.  There are many camera characteristics that are important to producing high quality photos.

 

The easest way for a film photographer to understand the importance of the megapixel is to compare digital photography to 35mm film photography.  A pixel is simply a piece of a digial image. Theoretically, the more of these pieces you have, the higher the quality of the photo.

 

In normal photography think of the difference between using an ASA 400 film and an ASA 100. Obviously, the 400 will give you a grainier less sharp image. The numbers work the opposite with megapixels. An 8 megapixel camera is more like the ASA 100 film; a 1 megapixel camera is more like the ASA 400.

 

Now the other big difference when using an ASA 100 film is whether you use an instamatic camera or a Hasalblad System.  The same applies with digital cameras.  All the megapixels in the world are useless if the camera itself is low quality.