They look great, but I see images that are 7+MB on digital proof sheets. Are these RAW files? It's hard to tell the difference on a computer monitor as they are all less resolution than the jpegs. When I use Elements to raise the resolution for printing the pixel dimensions reduce proportionately.
What does the 8MP actually mean, something to do with the CCD size?
"MP" is a megapixel, or 1 million pixels. Your camera takes the raw data and compresses it into a jpg. The compression results in your small file size.
Got it. The 8MP has more info than, say, the 5MP. I jack the images around so much in Photoshop you can't really tell the difference at the end of the day.