How many megapixels should my digital camera have?

How many megapixels should my digital camera have?

Mark Comon (Vice President, Paul's Photo, Torrance, CA) gives expert video advice on: Can a digital camera capture high-quality video?; Can a cell phone capture high-quality stills?; Can a video camcorder capture high-quality digital stills? and more...

Now, you need four megapixels to make an eight-by-ten print. If I'm never going to make anything more than an eight-by-ten, why do I need anything more than four? Well, the reason is, the last time I took a perfect picture was: never. so, if I have a six-megapixel camera, that means I can crop my file image after I've taken it, and throw away a third of it. If I have an eight-megapixel camera, I can throw away half of it – and still have four megapixels that will give me an eight-by-ten quality when I make my enlargement, when I make the print for the wall. If I have a twelve-megapixel camera, I can throw away two-thirds of it. That's why you spend the money for more megapixels – it doesn't give you a clearer picture, it gives you the ability to crop and adjust the picture later on.