What if a manufacturer says that camera has image sensor of 5MP cmos

[darksmart]

I am about to buy a camcorder (from ebay)on which on the box is written that it has 5mp cmos image sensor and it is a 12 MP camera.isn't that the cmos sensor that decides the active mega pixels.how could it be 12MP when the sensor is 5MP? or other things also constitutes the megapixels and quality(image and video)of camera?

 

[Ubrales]

Mega pixels is the number of pixels on the sensor - it's either 5 OR 12 Mega pixels, not both! Maybe a mis-communication.

 

[darksmart]

Mega pixels is the number of pixels on the sensor - it's either 5 OR 12 Mega pixels, not both! Maybe a mis-communication.

The seller told me that the image sensor is 5MP but by interpolation,it becomes12MP..what is it?

 

[Ubrales]

The camera is actually 5 mega pixels, NOT 12. This is a software method of increasing the pixel size of a photo by interpolating surrounding pixels. The sensor is 5 mega pixels. This borders on deceptive advertising and is usually found on bargain sites. The image will not be as good as an image taken with a 12 mega pixel camera.

They usually include specs, which may or may not say "interpolated" in the Image Resolution part of the specifications. OmniVision ?

Caveat Emptor!

 

[darksmart]

Best answer selected by darksmart.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey