Camera Resolution

[the_cat_keeper]

Hi,

A silly question here... What is it in a camera that determines its resolution? I like my Canon S1 IS but wish that it is more than 3.2 megapixels.

Thanks,
Cat.

 

[jonnythan]

Inside the camera, where film would normally go, is a chip called a CCD that is the thing that actually converts light into digital pixels. It's the "digital film" part and goes right where the lens focuses.

The number of light-sensitive diodes on this chip physically determine the number of pixels the camera can store.. and, hence, its resolution.

Why do you want more than 3.2MP? Do you make large printouts?

 

[the_cat_keeper]

No, but when I use my underwater pix as the background/ screensaver for my PC, the pix always look grainy.

 

[the_cat_keeper]

Forgot to ask, so can I "upgrade" this chip?

 

[jonnythan]

Hm... 3.2 megapixels is a resolution of 2048 pixels wide by 1536 pixels high.

Even very large monitors tend to have maximum resolutions on the order of 1600 pixels wide by 1200 pixels high.

Is it possible that your camera is set to a "medium" or "low" resolution, or that some software you are using are making the pictures smaller?

If you are taking pictures at the camera's full resolution, the images should be significantly larger than your monitor can display and hence they should be clear and sharp.

 

[jonnythan]

Forgot to ask, so can I "upgrade" this chip?

No, you'd need to upgrade the camera.. but see my above post, 3.2MP should be more than enough for what you want.

Perhaps you could attach one of your images to this thread, or email one to me at scubaboard@jonnythan.com so I can take a look to see what the problem is?

 

[the_cat_keeper]

I was using this picture:http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/1101/IMG_0024.JPG

Thank you so much!

 

[jonnythan]

You're using that image and think it looks grainy?? It looks pretty darn good over here..

 

[the_cat_keeper]

So is it my computer then?

 

[jonnythan]

Maybe we just have different definitions of grainy?