How to find megapixel value of a camera
A camera’s quality is generally determined by the megapixel value of its lens. There are other factors that determine its quality as well such as its focal point and ISO speed but the MP value is where you should start if you’re looking at a digital camera such as a webcam or the camera on a smartphone. Here are two ways to find the megapixel value of a camera.
Check product specifications
The megapixel value of a camera is often a major selling point. Regardless of the type of device that you have, whether it’s a webcam, an integrated webcam on a laptop, or the camera on a smartphone, you can look up the megapixel value of the camera online by going to its product page. All you need to know is the name of the product that you own. If you have a laptop and want to know the megapixel value of its integrated webcam, you need to find the product page for the laptop. It should tell you how many megapixels are in the camera.
If you still have the box that the camera/device came in lying around, you can look at for this information as well though, for laptops, it may not be stated on the box.
Calculate megapixel value with photo
If for some reason you’re unable to find the product page of a camera that you own, your next best course of action is to take a photo with the camera and copy it to your desktop. You can then use the photo to determine the camera’s megapixel value. This trick is also really handy if you happen to have a photo and want to know the specs of the camera that took it.
To calculate the megapixel value with a photo, need to open it in a file viewer that can tell you what its width and height is in pixels. You can probably also get this information by going to the photo’s properties/details in the stock file manager on your desktop.
Once you have the width and height in pixels, you need to multiply the two and then divide it by a million. Use the formula below.
(Width x Height) / 1,000,000
Round it off to the nearest value. If the value after the decimal is less than 5, then the value before the decimal is the megapixel value. If the value after the decimal is 5 or greater than 5, you will add 1 to the value before the decimal when rounding it off.
Example
(3246 x 2440) / 1,000,000 = 7.92
The above calculations are for a photo taken with the iPhone 6 which, if you look up its specs, has an 8MP camera.
Between these two methods, you can reliably calculate the megapixel value of a camera. We should mention that the megapixel value is only one indicator of a camera’s quality. Other factors matter a great deal when it comes to photography, especially if it’s digital photography. A good app and a poorly developed app will take vastly different photos even if they’re using the same camera on a phone.
