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Megapixel and zoom essentials

So how much is enough megapixels? And how long a zoom do you need?

It works out this way: a typical camera with five megapixels (that's five million pixels) will take a picture that measures 2592 x 1944 pixels. That's sufficient resolution to make a 29 x 22cm print - more than A4 in size. It's also more than enough to let you or your local photo retailer make a bright, sharp 10 x 15 cm print. Easy!

Ricoh Caplio, a slim 20.6 mm, yet with a 7.1x optical zoom lens. Price: $549

If you hanker after a camera with six, seven or more megapixels, the only advantages you will then enjoy are that you will be able to crop out unwanted parts of the picture, using software on a computer, and still make an A4 print. The larger pixel count will also let you make much larger prints... such as A3 or more!

Yet another 'slimmie', Olympus' Mju 1020 has a 7x optical zoom and 10.1 megapixels. Price: $499

All digicams have zooms, some reaching into the stratosphere as far as magnification power. A camera with a 3x optical zoom is ideal for people/travel/fun photography; it's easy to use handheld and, in most cases, all you'll need. Cameras priced at between $100 and $250 will have a 3x zoom.

A longer zoom is useful for photographing inaccessible distant scenes, taking shots of sports activity when you're stuck on the sidelines, and to get interesting single close-ups of people taken from a distance. When you get into lenses that boast a 7x or more zoom power you then need a camera with an internal image stabiliser, which most models have.

Beware of digital zooms: all compact digicams offer this feature but it's a furphy. All a digital zoom does is magnify the image on the camera's sensor and degrades the picture; it does not operate in the same manner as an optical zoom. If you need to magnify the picture before your lens, move the zoom in or walk a bit closer! However, if you're really determined to enlarge a shot digitally, do it in software, on the computer, after the shot is taken.

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In this article

• Digital cameras buyers guide
• Megapixel and zoom essentials
• Camera size and style
• Features you might want
• Cards and formats and connections
• Photo editing software and photo printing
• Accessories and a buyers checklist

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