Deciding how many mega-pixels you should look for  is one of the confusing things in choosing a digital camera .The answer depends on what you plan on doing by the finished pictures.

First, you need to understand what a pixel is.  In terms of digital prints, a pixel simply means a dot of color that makes up the image.A mega-pixels is equal to one million pixels.The more mega-pixels a camera have, the greater the amount of information it records. 

The easiest way to decide what to look for is to know what size prints you are likely to print from your camera.  For those who don’t plan on printing photos but rather just post them on the internet, a one mega-pixel camera is fine.The small print, say 4 x 6, will print from this camera acceptably.

A 2 mega-pixel camera will enable you to produce good quality 5 x 7 prints and fair quality 8 x 10 prints.  You can print out high quality 11 x 17 prints when you reach 4 mega-pixels you can print out excellent quality 8 x 10 prints and acceptable 11 x 17 prints and a 5 mega pixel camera .

Most families find a camera in the 3.2 Mega Pixel range to be the best choice.  The quality of both 5 x & and 8 X 10 prints is very good yet the files on your computer are not so large you need worry about not having enough space.

Any camera over 5 mega-pixels is unnecessary for all but professionals in photography; even then, only those who have need for poster-size prints find that many mega-pixels worth the money.Most freelance photographers find 4 or 5 mega-pixels to be sufficient for excellent-quality print.

The choice is yours.Look at to what you plans on doing with your photo and decide.  In most cases spending the money for increased optical zoom and lower mega-pixels is the best choice.