Introduction
Digital camera specification is the major factor to decide on a digital camera. It is easy to get confused on all the options described in the specification. Most of the us usually decide on camera based on the mega pixel and brand name. In addition to the megapixel, there are other requirements contributed to quality of a camera. The major requirement of a good camera are:
- Types of camera
- Mega Pixel
- Sensor Size
- Aperture (F/number)
- Focal Length of the lens
- Shutter
- ISO
- Features of the camera
Types of camera
First you have to decide what types of digital camera to buy i.e. Points and shot, or DSLR or mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. I have already posted a blog about types of camera (Click
here to read). By and large, DSLR has better picture quality than a mirrorless digital camera and mirrorless digital camera is better than a compact digital camera.
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| Compact Digital Camera |
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| Mirrorless Interchangeable Digital Camera |
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| DSLR digital Camera |
Mega Pixel (MP)
A megapixel is equal to one million pixels. Digital pictures are formed by these tiny pixels in different color. Pictures taking with 10 mega pixels consist of 10 million pixels. Each pixel is like a tiny dot. Image quality depends partially on number of pixels of a sensor. For printing a picture of 4x 6'', the camera should have at least 2 MP. The minimum megapixels required for different size of pictures are stated as follows:
Print Size Required Pixels
| 4 x 6″ | 2 megapixels |
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| 5 x 7″ | 3 megapixels |
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| 8 x1 0″ | 5 megapixels |
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| 11 x 14″ | 6 megapixels |
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| 16 x 20″ | 8 megapixels |
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| 16 x 24″ | 12 megapixels |
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| Visualize the Tiny Pixel of Digital Camera |
Image Sensor Size
The other factor which may affect image
quality are sensor size.
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| Digital Camera Sensor |
Sensor is an electronic device that records the picture and is light sensitive. The larger the size the better picture quality. The compact camera size is usually as
small as the little finger. The professional DSLR has a sensor as big
as the size of 35mm (which is the same size of a 35mm film). Entry
level DSLR or some mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras usually has
the second largest sensor (APS-C) and the third Micro 4/3 the third largest. APS-C sensor is about 64% size of a full frame sensor. Micro 4/3 digital camera sensor is about 60% of a APS-C sensor.
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| Image sensor size comparison |
If a small sensor compact camera has the same mega pixel of a large sensor size camera, the picture quality with a larger sensor should have better picture quality. It is because the large sensor record more light than the small sensor. The small sensor is sort of over populated the tiny pixel in small size.
