Is 2.0 Megapixels sufficient?

Question

I believe the new iPhone camera is 2.0 Megapixel, which seems to be a little less than most digital cameras that are sold today. Is this sufficient? Obviously since I am using a cell phone camera I am just planning to use it for taking pics and other amateur stuff. I want to know this because otherwise I might get a better camera and ditch the iPhone...

Any info you could add will be greatly appreciated, if you need any further clarification to help answer just post it and I will edit my responce.

Answer 1

2.0 megapixels is really only sufficient for low-quality pictures.  An example would be snapping that funny license plate or getting a quick snap of a friend doing something funny.  You should not rely on 2 MP to take any form of quality photos.

The other factor that is as important if not more important is the lens.  If you put a crappy lens with 10 MP you'll still have rubbish.  Seeing as it is a phone, I wouldn't expect a good quality lens.  Think about how much effort people take to protect their lens glass with lens caps and cleaning the lens.  A camera phone has a little peep-hole that gets full of dust and scratched up.

Yet another factor is size.  Look at cameras and the size of the lenses.  There's a reason why the more expensive and more professional a camera is, the larger the lenses and sensors.

Bottom line, again, I would say that the use of a cell phone camera should be limited to candid snapshots that need not be high quality.  Any attempt at anything resembling real photography should be done with a proper camera.  Even a point-and-shoot is better than a cell phone.

Answer 2

Forget the camera phone if you want halfway decent shots.Forget about printing anything and it being good quality,2.0 MP just wont get it done.

Answer 3

h**l no

get a nokia N95 8GB

has a 5 MP cam and everything and more than a Iphone has

come on now

you want a iPhone because everyone else has one

iPhones are c**p

Im a mac fanboy and I think they did terrible on it

plus its over priced

it doesnt even support flash

Answer 4

If you want to take a picture of your parking spot at the mall so you don't forget where you parked, or remember the title of a book, or some other "memory jogging" type of use, or maybe throw a pic up on some social network, then the iPhone camera will be fine.

Anything more than that, you will be sorely disappointed.  The iPhone (and really just about any phone's camera) is an in a pinch or just for fun shooter.  It is not something you would want to keep your "memories" in.

Answer 5

I have a four year old Fujifilm digital camera that's 2.0 megapixels.  I was on vacation in Charleston recently and got some good pictures of Fort Sumter and the houses along the waterfront.  It works for me.

These days, though, you should be able to buy a 5.0 megapixel camera at a reasonable price.  I certainly wouldn't want to get locked into an iPhone service contract just for the camera feature.

Answer 6

I will go in another direction for you to consider.   a 2 megapixel camera will take a nice picture.  Years ago when they were first out,  a professional photograper did a photo shoot of my daughter with an Olympus 2020 2MP camera.   He put the camera on a tripod and attached strobe lights.  The pictures were gorgeous... back for that time..  but then he blew up my choices to 8X10.  The pictures were flawless.   No one would ever believe that now...  but that many years ago, 2 MP was the biggest and the best... and of course,  he was a professional photographer.   But in your case, a 2 MP camera on a cell phone would not take good pictures at all.   Why would one 2MP camera take great pics and the other not?  The answer could be in the basic technology of the camera and more importantly,  the lens.  The lens on those tiny phone cameras are about the size of a pea (maybe smaller).  They are more of a gimmick than a camera.  I think they are getting better,  but still and in no way can the images from a phone compete with the images taken with a camera...   even an old 2MP digital one.

Answer 7

2 megapixels is ok to share things online/via e-mail but not for prints. 3 megapixels is sufficient for 4x 6 prints...larger prints need more.  

I found this for reference.http://cameras.about.com/cs/choosingacam...

Answer 8

if you want to talk get a phone

if you want to take pictures get a camera(not a cell phone type)

simple enough

Answer 9

I have a old 2.1 pixel Kodak camera that still takes nice shots. when i am going some ware i don't want to take my higher priced canon camera , and i still get all most as good a shot with it.

   I don't think there is any thing with the lower pixel cameras

  and you aren't going to worry about it maybe getting dirty as much as you would a higher price camera