If you are looking for a how many stamps do I need, you no doubt have been met with the term megapixel, or MP. This probably sounds like a foreign language, but there is no reason to fear the terms. Instead, with some patience and careful research it is possible to really understand what a megapixel is, and what it means for your pictures. The first thing you should understand is all digital cameras have a MP or megapixel rating.
In digital photography megapixel tell you how many pixels your picture has, which directly relates to how large you can make your picture. If you have a camera that only has a 2MP size, you are going to be lucky to make that picture the size of a stamp. However, a camera that has a 6MP rating will be able to give you a gigantic poster sized picture that you can treasure forever, and see from more than 2 inches away. However, you should also realize that megapixel size will also affect your picture quality.
For example, a picture taken from the exact same distance with a 4MP and a 6MP camera are going to look very different. The 6MP camera will have much less blur and will be a crisp and sharp picture. Many digital cameras now come with sizes as large as 10MP without breaking the bank. You can purchase cameras with 10MP for as little as a few hundred dollars.
If you are looking for digital photography success with making large poster sized portraits then you really need to splurge the money on a camera with a high megapixel rating. You should never select a camera smaller than 7MP if you are planning on poster-sized prints. However, if you are only planning on doing pictures to a maximum size of 8×10 then you can stay to a camera in the 6MP and smaller range.