I have seen some people take some really nice pics of sabers and I would like to be able to zoom and still have pic quality, seems mine goes down the more I zoom. I have an hp 720 digital right now.
Here is a great article I found in the Best Buy Website.
I hope it helps you all. I personally have owned 3.1, 4.1, 5.1 Cybershots and have gotten extremely great results while printing.
I now have a 7 mega pixel Cybershot and my favorite but bulky Cannon Digital Rebel XT. (8 mega pixels)
enough mumbling, here is the article
By Staff Writer
Digital cameras represent resolution in "mega pixels" (one million pixels). The more pixels that you have, the higher the resolution (or sharpness) of your images. It can be tricky to find the "perfect" resolution — shooting in high-resolution consumes large amounts of memory and rapidly fills your digital media. But too little resolution can result in poor-quality images.
So what's the best solution? It all depends on how you plan on using your camera and photos. Ask yourself these questions when determining how many megapixels you need:
What will I do with my images? Lower-resolution images are best viewed online. Higher-resolution images are better for printing and allow you to crop away larger areas of an image and still maintain details.
What size of photos do I want to print? The larger the prints, the higher the resolution you'll need.
Here's a brief guide for choosing between digital cameras with different megapixels:
2-Megapixel or Less Digital Cameras
Ideal for basic usage — e-mailing photos and posting photos on the Web, but not good for decent-looking prints of any size
Maximum recommended print size: 4" x 6"
3-Megapixel Digital Cameras
Ideal for casual photographers — e-mailing photos, posting photos on the Web, and printing small, everyday shots
Maximum recommended print size: 4" x 6"
4-Megapixel Digital Cameras
Ideal for even better quality results — near photo-lab quality 4" x 6" prints and great 5" x 7" and 6" x 9" photos
Maximum recommended print size: 8" x 10"
5-Megapixel Digital Cameras
Ideal for enlargements and those who want near-35mm quality results
Maximum recommended print size: 8" x 10" and 11" x 14"
6-Megapixel and Higher Digital Cameras
Ideal for avid photographers and those wanting close-to-professional photo results
Note: Some avid photographers can't even tell a difference between printed photos from some of the 7-, 8- and 9-megapixel digital cameras and a 35mm film SLR camera.
Maximum recommended print size: 11" x 14" and more, with wonderful image quality
A note about higher-megapixel digital cameras: More megapixels means larger image sizes, which demand more expensive memory cards and more storage space needed to store these images on your computer's hard drive.
Just e-mailing pictures or viewing them on the computer? Some people may not want to print digital photos at all, but just e-mail them, or view them on a monitor or television display. In this case, a high megapixel digital camera is not needed. Even an older 1.5- or 2.0-megapixel digital camera will suffice.
