The car repair pieces on my web site ('Cars' tab) were photographed with a (now discontinued) Olympus D340 at medium definition - maximum definition on this is 1.3 megapixels, so medium is probably ~ 0.6....

Now I know this sounds horribly low with all the talk of 10 and 15 mp sensors out there, but do you really want to use your $5k camera to record engine details with greasy hands?

The D340 sells all the time on eBay for $60 and up - check the completed auctions.

If your end use is Internet/screen display, you need very little definition to get something useable. Plus, you want a small file size to minimize download times, especially for those using a dial-up connection.

The repair pictures on my site were modestly sharpened using the 'sharpen' function in IrfanView (downloadable free from Cnet.com). Most file sizes are 50-90k. The camera, as you can see, has capable close focus ability.

At maximum resolution, anything above a 7"x5" print suffers from poor definition so this is not the right tool for large prints.

Because the D340 uses an antiquated and slow serial connector, I replaced it with a $20 card reader and now find that download to my PC is near instantaneous.

If you subscribe to Moore's Law, the $5k, 5mp camera of today s/b $1k, 10mp before long....

Oh! yes, before I forget - get a bottle of Simple Green to wipe the grease off the camera after a picture session. Just keep it off the lens.