Understanding Image Quality: Megapixels, Image Size, Resolution and Image Sites

Image quality is not just about megapixels. Here are 7 useful facts that help define image quality.

When it comes to image quality, there is a big misconception that if you want better quality, you need more megapixels. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) it isn’t that straightforward.

Over the years camera manufacturers have dedicated much of their efforts to improve the number of megapixels in their latest models. At the start of the century, both Nikon and Canon were producing DSLRs with just 3MP — a far cry from the 100MP cameras we see today. This drive has led many to believe that megapixels are all that matters when it comes to image quality, but to better understand image quality, considering the number of megapixels alone isn’t enough. You also need to look at the size and type of image sensor, understand how images are formed, how light is focused onto the sensor, the impact of lens choice and quality, and consider the pixel size to get the full picture. 

Comments

  1. Stevenlfath

    What would be the Pixel size of the Nikon Z 9 with a resolution of 8256 X 5504 with a sensor size of 35.9 mm X 23.9 mm? Is this a good pixel size if I want to use this camera and the Nikkor Z 24-70 mm f 2.8 S lens for portraits which is the main focus of my work?

  2. Hi Karl, thank you for the information. I am looking into buying a used Canon 5DSR (50 megapixels) and made a test image to check this camera for the broken/hot/stuck pixels. I took one picture with closed lens (100 ISO and shutter speed 15 seconds) and one normal picture of a person with a flashlight. When I zoomed pictures in, I found stuck green and red pixels on the same place in both places. I tried to remove them by “cleaning dust” function in the setting, but it didn’t work. Does it speak for image quality of the camera? Should I skip buying such a camera or is it normal? Thank you in advance!

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