In my lists of reviews, all of the cameras are well known brands, so that’s not an issue. This list has the Canon Powershot SX260 at #3 with 12 MP and the rest are 16MP.
Gah.. after reading several reviews in detail, they ALL have some sort of Canon Powershot on the top of the charts, but they are each a different one. This is what is confusing the heck out of me. Some people say “get a Canon Power shot!” but there are 8 billion to choose from with specs all over the map. Then they say “get a Nikon Coolpix!” and that model—there are so many distinctive looks and features that they all look totally different to me.
Anyway.. I’ll ask here instead of making a question up. Because I do crop quite a bit, perhaps 16mp is better. But how much zoom do I really need? I mostly take pictures of family members and use the zoom for closeups. Is 20x overkill for this? Will 5x do?
I am a terrible photographer, but I don’t do much with my pics. I almost never print them out at all and when I do, they are 8×10s. I don’t need professional quality. That would be overkill for what I do.
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Another question—how can you tell if the megapixel count is “true” and not interpolated? I’d rather have a lower “true” count than a higher interpolated count. Or is this even an issue with digital cameras? I know when buying a cell phone camera, you have to be careful about the claims.