Why Megapixels don't matter much and what to look for in a camera

Going to buy a new smartphone? You must be spoilt with choices, isn’t it? One of the very basic requirement is to have a good camera in you smartphone. Thinking about it, the next question which comes is, how much pixels (megapixels precisely) would be enough for you. 

 

 When comparing the cameras, these MPs are generally the main considerations. The higher the value of the megapixels (MP) the better it is considered. BUT, does it necessarily mean better picture quality? Ever come across a camera with high no of megapixels but still delivering poor pictures? You must have.

This article will explain why it doesn’t and what other factors should be considered while selecting the device.

 

What are megapixels?

 

When someone tells you that some camera offers ‘x’ megapixels, it means that the image produced by it contains ‘x’ million pixels in the image produced by it. So the more pixels, which means the harder it would be for the eye to notice the ‘roughness’ of the image or in other words, the more smooth it would appear to the eye. 

So, pixels do matter, but only upto an extent. In early days, the digital cameras gave images which appeared pixelated because the cameras were of less than one megapixel and any improvement showing more pixels resulted in more details to see the same image so it made a big difference.

The required Megapixels

 

However, when the pixels reach upto 5 MP and above it hardly matters for the human eye if the image is seen on the computer screen. So 5 MP can be considered to be good enough to see images as they are on the screens, posting on socials apps etc. A 5-megapixel resolution is high enough to take a clear print-out on an A4 sized page.

However, if you need acceptable images when you take a bigger print of them, go for higher MPs. They are still valid when you need to crop images and still want to have good images. Still, you only really need a 7 megapixel camera for any prints larger than 14x11 inch. Generally, larger printouts are seen from a distance so this is a good no. of pixels for the human eye.

So why do companies offer higher MP cameras

 

In short- just to attract the customers. They have discovered an easy term in the name of MP using which they can attract the customers, thus for cost cutting they compromise on other aspects (including photography). And the customer thinks he got a good deal as he got a higher MP camera in low budget.

Its mostly a marketing gimmick unless you are a professional photographer. This term and its purpose is highly misunderstood in the public due to which the companies take advantage of it.

Lets see what other things one should consider when selecting a good camera phone-

Budget

 

That’s the main thing anyways. Only this will decide what is the best option you’d get in the given range. However it doesn’t harm to cross it a little for some better version. The story is different if you are going to buy a flagship phone.

The flash

 

It really matters when you go for low light photography. You would see some cameras offering good daylight photos but bad at night. A normal Led flash is most common thing offered and it the worst option. Either go for a Xenon flash of at least Dual LED flash. Xenon flash is the best. Single LED flash doesn’t really help you capture good low light images.

The image sensor

 

It is the portion of the camera- essentially a plate where the light falls through the lens - where the picture is formed and is probably the most important factor in actually determining quality of the image. The bigger the sensor, the more detailed image would be formed with lesser pixilation even when cropped. When you buy a camera with high MP and smaller size of sensor, too many pixels fitting in the small space too tightly leading to blurred quality of images. So in the name of higher pixels, the company has cut corners for the sensor!

Lenses

 

Aperture, or the size of the lens opening through which light falls on the sensor, is also very important in these scenarios. Bigger aperture is always better. An aperture of f2.2 or f1.8 is becoming more common even in the smaller compact cameras, because of low-light photography. So when a phone's ad promises better pictures in low-light conditions, it has nothing to do with how many megapixels it offers.

All of these factors affect the quality of the image the camera produces and not just the 'megapixels'. So next time try to find out these details and compare with others when deciding the better camera :)

Which smartphones do you think offer good images in a lesser budget? Which phones offer poor pictures despite having a large no. of megapixels according to you? Let me know in comments! (Leave flagships, they are known to offer really good pics)

Also read: How much RAM is sufficient for my smartphone?

Image source: Google images