If you intend to take pictures only to e-mail them to distant friends or to print at snapshot size, a camera of most any resolution will do. Even so, having more pixels gives you greater flexibility--you can , or crop and print small sections of pictures. These days most cameras offer a resolution of at least 10 megapixels, which is overkill for most shooters. 5 megapixels is enough to make a sharp 8-by-10 print. 8 megapixels is enough to make a sharp 11-by-14 print. A 10-megapixel camera can produce acceptable prints of up to 13 by 19 inches, though they may lose some detail. Images from a 13-megapixel camera look good at 13 by 19 inches and can be pushed to 16 by 24 inches. Many digital single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras today exceed 13 megapixels-all the better to creatively crop your images.

All megapixels aren't created equally; cameras with larger sensors and lenses normally take better shots, regardless of the megapixel count. Bigger sensors normally create better images, as do higher-quality lenses; this is why DSLRs take such stunning photos. If you can't get any hands-on time with a camera before deciding whether to buy it, check the specs to see how big its sensor is, and look at the physical size of the glass on the front of the camera. If both are big, it most likely offers good image quality.