Deciding how many megapixels you need isn't an easy decision

Add megapixels into the equation and camera choice goes out-of-focus.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Call it Megapixel Madness -- the confusion that comes from trying to understand which digital camera is the best buy.
Shopping for a digital camera was tough enough when the choices mostly boiled down to brand name and the size of the LCD screen on the back.
But now, with cameras ranging from 2 megapixels all the way up to 12 megapixels sitting side-by-side on retail shelves, the bigger question has become: How many megapixels do I really need for good picture quality?
Three good for most
"For most people, three megapixels is all they'll ever need," said Dennis Curtain, a Massachusetts publisher and photo enthusiast who offers a series of online courses in digital photography at www.shortcourses.com.
At that level, 4x6 prints of the kids in their Halloween costumes will look just great -- better than the prints that would ever come from a roll of 400-speed film processed at the corner drugstore.
But if you're more than just a hobbyist trying to capture a moment -- maybe a semi-professional who's trying to shoot a sparkling sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge -- it may be worth looking deeper into the camera's features.
Paul Hrisko of San Francisco packed away his old film camera for a digital one -- a Nikon 5-megapixel -- just last month and has taken those shots of the Golden Gate Bridge.
"I've started shooting the equivalent of roll after roll after roll, trying to figure out what works and what I like," he said.
Hrisko, a self-described amateur hobbyist, said he's pretty good at working with Adobe's Photoshop editing software and would like to take some of his photos and blow them up into 8x10 prints.
"That's why I decided on a 5-megapixel camera," he said.
More means flexibility
Chuck DeLuca, product manager for consumer digital cameras for Nikon, said a greater number of pixels offers more flexibility in what can be done with a print.
"With a 2-megapixel, you'll get a great 4x6 print and a somewhat usable 8x10," he said. "But if you cut this and crop that to make it look better, what you'll start to run into is a decrease in quality. With a 4- or 5-megapixel camera, you'll have the versatility to find the picture within the picture."
Understanding how it all comes together isn't so tough if you can get beyond the mathematical calculations of megapixels.
In the simplest terms, a two-megapixel camera produces an image using 2 million color pixels (or picture elements) -- split evenly into red, green and blue-colored pixels. Likewise, a 4-megapixel camera produces the same image using twice as many color pixels, creating a crisper, sharper image.
Knowing that, it's easy to see why camera manufacturers push the megapixel number -- much like car manufacturers talk about horsepower and speaker makers put so much emphasis on watts.
Other important things
But Michelle Fernandez, assistant manager of digital camera marketing for Canon, said there are other important things to consider. "It's not really just about megapixels," she said.
Optics, or the quality of the glass used on the lens of the camera, plays an important role. And the processor -- just like what's inside a computer -- can make a big difference, as well.
Canon, which uses a proprietary processor in its line of cameras, is designed to quickly process the image and prepare the camera's shutter for the next shot, making for a better picture-taking experience for the user.
Still, like many others, Canon also is trying to keep the cameras easy to use -- utilizing buttons and dials to help new users find the right speeds and flash settings.
"Entry level consumers are looking for something that's easy to use," Fernandez said. "Some consumers are just looking to point and shoot."