When someone says, I have a high resolution camera, that hardly means much, when it comes to the finished product, meaning "will my photo print at the highest resolution"? For example, if you crop a photo, you can lose resolution and if your intent is making those extra large prints, you need to know just how big you can go. If your subject is shot from a distance, and you want to crop just the subject and eliminate all the insignificant "additionals" in the scene, your crop will lose resolution.
That's just a very basic understanding to consider, but here is a guide you may want to keep for referral.
|
Capture Resolution
|
Video Display
|
Print Size
|
||||||
|
2x3"
|
4x5"/4x6"
|
5x7"
|
8x10"
|
11x14"
|
16x20"
|
20x30"
|
||
|
320x240
|
OK |
Good |
OK |
Crap |
Crap |
Crap |
Crap |
Crap |
|
640x480
0.3Megapixel |
Good |
Excellent |
Good |
Crap |
Crap |
Crap |
Crap |
Crap |
|
800x600
|
Excellent |
Photo Quality |
Very Good |
Reasonable |
Crap |
Crap |
Crap |
Crap |
|
1024x768
|
Excellent |
Photo Quality |
Excellent |
Good |
OK |
Crap |
Crap |
Crap |
|
1280x960
1 MP |
Excellent |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Very Good |
Good |
Crap |
Crap |
Crap |
|
1536x1180
|
Excellent |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Excellent |
Very Good |
OK |
Crap |
Crap |
|
1600x1200
2MP |
Excellent |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Very Good |
OK |
OK |
Crap |
|
2048x1536
3 Megapixel |
Excellent |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Excellent |
Good |
OK |
OK |
|
2240x1680
4 Megapixel |
Excellent |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Very Good |
Good |
OK |
|
2560x1920
5 Megapixel |
Excellent |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Excellent |
Very Good |
Very Good |
|
3032x2008
6 Megapixel |
Excellent |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Excellent |
Very Good |
|
3072x2304
7 Megapixel |
Excellent |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Excellent |
Excellent |
|
3264x2448
8 Megapixel |
Excellent |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Excellent |
|
10 Megapixel +
|
Excellent |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
Photo Quality |
|
Crap |
Horribly pixelated blocky mess, like something out of 1987 |
|
OK |
Looks reasonable enough, but nowhere near photo quality |
|
Good |
Pretty good all round, with a fair bit of detail |
|
Very Good |
This will be fine for most uses, unless you get up reeeeal close |
|
Excellent |
As good as a photo for most purposes |
|
Photo Quality |
Woohoo! Fantastic quality print, full of detail and perfect for your picture frame or for your showing off your very best shots.
|