Wierd digital camera specs

[MarcusM]

How come most digital cameras has a CCD resolution that is larger than the actual resolution of the photos taken?

i.e. the Canon Powershot G1 claims to be a 3.34 Mpix Camera, although the maximum photo resolution is 2048 x 1536 = 3145728 = 3.15Mpix?

Whats the deal here?

/marcus

 

[Packy]

Depending on the zoom, etc., the CCD is hardly ever used to its fullest capacity. A good example is the Sony F505V, which has a 3.3mp CCD but only puts out a 2.6mp image because of the 5x (6x?) zoom. Check out this site for more info on the subject.