Originally posted by MrFatbooty
Cliffs notes: for casual use 2 megapixels is more than enough resolution and you should focus on the other features of the camera instead of sacrificing them to get more resolution.
Like MaxBoosT said, it depends. Any camera with any number of pixels is going to need the pictures it takes shrunken down to fit on a computer screen. I have a Canon S200 which is 2 megapixels--that means all the pictures it takes are at 1600 x 1200 resolution. Plenty enough resolution for my pics to look fine when I shrink em down for viewing on the web.
The only reason you should really be concerned with getting really high resolution out of a digicam is if you intend to print the pictures as 8 x 10 prints. Then you can use a higher dpi setting (of the image itself, not the printer). Since you are limited to the size of the paper, the more pixels you have in the original means the more pixels you can squeeze into that 8x10 print which means it'll be sharper. Still, to get my 2 megapixel pictures to 8 c 10 I print them at 150 dpi which is more than good enough on glossy coated paper out of a good printer. If you really want the picture to pop and sizzle though you should go with something that has higher resolution and a 6-color printer.
:werd: i was going to type all of that out but i got lazy. if you wont print out any pics, 2mp is more than enough. who prints out digipics anyways? not many people. all of my pics eventuall get shrunk down to 200kb jpeg files anyways:dunno: