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Photography vocabulary · Camera Parts & Settings

Megapixel

Meaning in photography, with examples

/ˈmeɡəˌpɪksəl/nounCore term

In photography, megapixel means: One million pixels; the unit used to describe how many pixels a camera's sensor records, as in a 24-megapixel camera.

In Turkish: megapiksel, MP

How it is used

Written MP. More megapixels allow bigger prints and more cropping, but they also mean bigger files and do not by themselves guarantee better image quality. Manufacturers competing on pixel counts is often called the megapixel race.

Example sentences

  1. Twenty-four megapixels is more than enough for weddings and A3 prints.

  2. The 61-megapixel files fill up my laptop in a week.

Common collocations

  • 24-megapixel sensor
  • high-megapixel camera
  • megapixel count
  • megapixel race
  • sensorThe light-sensitive chip inside a digital camera that records the image. It does the job that film did in older cameras.
  • resolutionThe amount of detail in an image, usually given as its size in pixels (e.g. 6000 × 4000) or as how many pixels or dots fit into an inch when printed.
  • cropTo cut away the outer parts of a photo to improve the composition, remove distractions or fit a particular shape.
  • printA photograph produced on paper or another material, such as canvas or metal, from a digital file or a negative.

More terms: Camera Parts & Settings

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