2 Megapixels or 3 Megapixels (that is the question)

[FergieTCat]

Today, I finally took the plunge and bought a digital camera. After much research and advice, I ordered a Nikon Coolpix 2500, which is 2.1 megapixels. 2 friends who are avid photographers told me that a 2 mp camera was fine for my purposes (mostly taking snapshots, maybe blowing a picture up to 5x7 or 6x8).

Did I make the right choice? Someone at work told me that she heard anything below 3 MP didn't have a clear enough picture.

What do you guys think?

 

[dBugged]

Your 2mp is fine -- I wouldn't worry about that friend. I have a small Canon Elph 110 (2MP) and a Canon G2 (4MP) camera. The 2MP makes incredible prints when using a service like shutterfly.com. Unless you are planning on making huge 8x10 pictures, the 2MP will be fine. If you want to see what 2MP cameras can do (although the pix are shrunk in size quite a bit)... check out my website. ALL of the pictures were taken with a 2MP Canon Elph 110 or an older Epson 2MP camera. I love my camera. The 3MP will offer a little more resolution, but personally the 2MP is fine and doesn't eat up as much flash storage.

Oh, you made a good choice. The Nikon and Canon cameras are consistently the best rated digital cameras on the market!

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

My digital camera also is 2.1 megapixels (Fuji FinePix2800). All my photos came out well.

 

[Amzey]

We have a Kodak DX3500, which is a 2.2 megapixel, and we've blown pictures up into beautiful 8x10s using the HP Photosmart 1000 printer. I'm hoping to receive a Nikon Coolpix 2500 for my birthday to bring to college with me (just in case my mamma is reading this!) and the guy at BestBuy said that Nikons have wonderful lenses, and that it should take great pictures, especially if we were already satisfied with the Kodak. I also thought the scene modes on the Coolpix 2500 looked neat, and I like that it takes CompactFlash memory cards, which I've been very happy with when we used them in the Kodak. So I'm hoping that it will be one of my birthday presents. Tell me how you like yours!

 

[epcotfan]

Originally posted by CaliforniaDreaming
My digital camera also is 2.1 megapixels (Fuji FinePix2800). All my photos came out well.

I have the same camera and I LOVE IT! I was really impressed with the quality of the pictures.

 

[helenabear]

I think you picked fine for what you are doing. As long as you don't plan on getting a big print (like 8x10) you should be fine. My brother has a 2.1 megapixel and I have a 3.3 megapixel camera and for what we do (nothing special) I cannot tell the difference.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Great choice, Donna, enjoy. Make sure to post some of the pictures for us.

 

[RNMOM]

Donna, we bought the Coolpix 2500 about a month ago. We agonized over the issue just as you have.

We did a lot of searching and the Nikon came up with the best recommendations. We love it and are very happy with the picture quality. We also have 2 SLR cameras that we still plan to use for certain applications.

We chose this one as a beginning camera. We figure as the market adds more slr digitals and the prices come down, we will get one of them in a few years.

 

[FergieTCat]

What a relief!

Thanks guys!!

 

[Zurg]

Here Zurg's handy minimumpixel chart that shows up all screwy on Deb's. ( http://wdwig.com/digital.htm )

Print Size-- Min. Size -- Mega Pixels
4x6 . . . . . 640x480 ------ .3
5x7 . . . . . 1024x768 ----- .8
8x10 . . . . 1600x1200 --- 1.9
11x14. . . .1650x2100 - -- 3.5

You are fine. Zurg makes 8x10 with a 2 mega pixel camera all the time.

In Zurg's manifesto he states:

The most important part of any camera is the eyeball looking through it. Even if you are not buying a camera, a trip through these photo tip pages can make a big difference in your vacation shots: WDW Photography Tips at Deb's and Kodak's Taking Great Pictures. (Zurg, not believing in coincidence, is not shocked to noticed Kodak mentions film at their site but other than film choice the tips apply to digitals as well.)