Q&A: DO I really need More Megapixels?

That’s a pretty common question! While it is tempting to buy cameras with more megapixels, you won’t see all that much difference in the resulting images. Yes, is\f you jump from 20 megapixels to 60 megapixels, you might see an improvement in tiny details and you have more “crop room”, but remember you pay a price for that since you’ll need larger memory cards and more hard drive space to store them. Ultimately, in many cases, you really won’t see that much difference in your photographs. What matters more in terms of camera features is the dynamic range of the sensor, ISO range, and low light performance. Those factors are the more important features to pay attention to when considering buying a new camera.

Also, if you go with an ultra high megapixel camera, you’d better make sure you have lenses with excellent optics to even have the resolving power to record the finer details on the sensor. Also you’ll need to even more carefully manage your focusing, aperture, depth of field, and shutter speeds to ensure you get sharp shots. A slightly out of focus shot or a shot with unintended motion blur will not be sharper by simply recording the blurry image on a higher-megapixel sensor. 🙂


Do you have any questions about photography? Feel free to ask Kevin!

Send an email to and he’ll post your answer on our blog!





Kevin's book "30 Practical Tips for Better Photographs" is available in print and on Kindle devices!
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