The term ‘Pix’ was coined in 1932 by Variety magazine to denote an abbreviation for pictures. A pixel means “picture point” and it was patented for the first time in 1988. The German term for Pixels is Bildpunkt whose creator was Paul Nipkow. The total number of pixels in any picture is denoted by a mega pixel that consists of one million pixels. The total number of sensor elements or display elements in digital cameras, and digital displays respectively, is referred to as Mega pixels.

To get a clear picture of what mega pixels are, we should understand what the term photosensitive electronic in cameras means. When we say photosensitive, electronic we refer to the CCD or Charge-couple device, CMOS, or Complementary metal oxide-semiconductor image sensors present in the digital cameras, which allow the users to shoot crystal clear images.

A huge number of single sensor elements present are used to record a measured level of intensity and these are covered by a filter mosaic, which has a pattern, and colour. The colours include space green, red and blue present in the Bayer filter arrangement of the camera. Thus, each sensor element is able to capture a single primary colour of light in all its intensity when we capture photos using the digital camera. Nowadays DSLR cameras, like the Nikon D3X body, have resolutions reaching up to a gigantic 24.5 megapixels and beyond. In fact, the Seitz 6×17 digital shoots at an astounding 160 megapixels.

The final image is processed by the camera’s intelligence though a process called Demosaicing. In demosiaicing, the camera processes all information the sensor elements pick up and then finally gives forth a final image. ‘Pixels” is the term used to denote these sensor elements.