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In order for a camera sensor to work effectively, it may have some pixels (or photo sites) outside of its actual photo-recording zone (like on the edges of the sensor). Now, to add even more complexity, when you look at a camera and see the megapixel count, that may be different from how many pixels the photo will have. If you try to squeeze too many pixels into a sensor that isn’t big enough, the photo sites become very small and can’t handle light very well-as such, being conscious of the sensor size versus the number of megapixels is important. You see, the larger the pixel, the larger the photo site on the sensor – which allows better handling of light because there is more square footage for the light to hit. As such, the camera sensor must be large enough to house all the pixels. Photo sites capture light and turn that into an image.Ī 26-megapixel camera has 26 million photo sites on the sensor. The pixels on a sensor are called photo sites, and these get translated to pixels in a digital image. Yes, the sensor itself actually has pixels.
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The camera’s sensor dictates the pixel count.
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If a camera produces a photograph that is sized at 6240 pixels long by 4160 pixels wide, that means that the image has 25,958,400 pixels in total (6240 x 4160 = 25,958,400).īecause it’s a bit of a mouthful to say that there are 25,958,400 pixels in a photo, it’s easier to relay this information by stating that the camera is 26 megapixels. Megapixels have to do with a camera’s resolution, which refers to the size of a digital image. Megapixels are the units of measurement to state how many pixels make up a photo. A pixel is the name given to each little square. Put all of these squares together, and you get a picture. The photos that we see are made up of thousands of tiny squares of color. Zoom in, and suddenly you start to see something that looks like this: What Is A Megapixel?Ī photograph on its face looks like, well, a photo. I will explain everything you need to know about this topic and how many megapixels a camera should have. Luckily, breaking down what a megapixel is and how much impact this number can have on the final photo you produce doesn’t have to be a brain twister. Being bombarded with megapixel talk can be overwhelming for new photographers diving into the camera-buying landscape. Megapixel count is one of the more complex subjects in the photography industry, specifically on how much bearing it truly has on your photograph.
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