Magapixel to picture size.

Artemis · Aug 3, 2004

Just wondering what the limits were on megapixels...e.g 1 megapixel can only go to 7x5 before it gets pixelly? Just wonderin, specially curious about 6.1

Big Mike · Aug 3, 2004

There are commonly recommended sizes, I don't remember them, but what people forget to consider is the viewing distance of the print.

You could print off a 40x60 print from a one MP camera and it will look good...if viewed from far enough away.

mentos_007 · Aug 3, 2004

Hi... I got a panorama: 75cmx25cm in 6.1 mega and it looks fine .. and in 6.1 on A4 you won't see pixels

Artemis · Aug 3, 2004

WOW ty

ksmattfish · Aug 3, 2004

Isn't 300 dpi considered the lowest resolution for quality prints?

Artemis · Aug 4, 2004

jadin · Aug 4, 2004

dots per inch. say you have 1600 x 1200, that'd be 5.3 inches x 4 inches at 300 dpi, at 100 dpi it'd be 16 inches x 12 inches.

300 is lowest recommended.

I was more than happy with prints made at 100 dpi. I probably wouldn't print at that again just because I know what it's *supposed* to be now. I would have no quarrel with 150 dpi printing.

Big Mike · Aug 4, 2004

Jadin,

I think you are confusing pixels with dots. DPI is how many dots per inch that a printer puts onto the paper. It has nothing to do with how many pixels the digital file is.

Here is an excerpt from http://bobatkins.photo.net/photography/digital/digitalbasics.html

PPI stands for "Pixels per inch" and is almost exclusively used for printing, not video display. If you take an image that is 800 pixels wide and 600 pixels high, and you print it with a PPI setting of 100 pixels per inch, the print will be 8 inches wide by 6 inches high. If you print at 200 PPI you get a print 4" wide by 3" high. Now the print at 200 PPI will be higher in quality but smaller. Most people seem to agree that around 320 PPI is the highest number you really need. Above that it's very hard to see any improvement in image quality. 240 PPI is often used and even that is often regarded as high quality. Most people notice a quality drop when they go much below 180 PPI.

DPI stands for "dots per inch" and is a property of a printer, not a digital image. It's a measure of how finely spaced the droplets of ink can be in a print. However the number is a bit misleading since it's not always measured in the way you think it might be! Printer settings of 360dpi, 720dpi, 1440dpi and 2880dpi are often found. However the difference between then is subtle at best. Most people probably couldn't tell the difference and 360dpi usually looks great. Changing DPI does not change the size of the print. PPI controls that. DPI controls print quality (though as I said, over 360dpi you typically don't see much change).