• Question: How many megapixels does a human eye have?

    Asked by naimasultana123 to Anna, Chris, Jane, Iain, Nick on 7 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Anna Middleton

      Anna Middleton answered on 7 Mar 2014:

      @naimasultana123
      I have absolutely no clue whatsoever! What a great question though!

    • Photo: Chris Cole

      Chris Cole answered on 8 Mar 2014:

      What is really interesting about sight is that the eye has only a small role to play. The majority of what you ‘see’ is done in the brain. This is why optical illusions are possible because you’re tricking the brain into ‘seeing’ things that aren’t there.

      For this reason I don’t think it’s possible to compare an eye to a digital camera.

Comments

  • Photo: naimasultana123

    naimasultana123 commented on :

    Oh Okay, Thank you!

  • Photo: Anna

    Anna commented on :

    @naimsultana123
    What’s fascinating to me about the eye is that it has evolved so differently in different creatures. What I also ‘like’ about the eye in the human is that we have a blind spot where objects can seem to disappear if they are in a certain position – that is not great engineering and shows that evolution doesn’t always get it right. There are many things that have evolved that don’t actually make any sense at all, e.g. why it is so hard for panda’s to get pregnant – they are a species that will soon die out without human intervention. Also, why is childbirth so dangerous and painful for humans – this just doesn’t make sense but is the way it is because that is the way we have evolved.

  • modandy commented on :

    I heard recently that it is about 570 megapixels!!!
    Compare that to a camera with only 20