Home News Reviews Forums Shop


Megapixels Don't Matter

General discussion. Come introduce yourself. Talk about whataver you want!

Megapixels Don't Matter

Postby smartin4 on Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:23 am

At least when blown up to poster size.

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/11/ ... s-posts-2/
User avatar
smartin4
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 296
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2002 11:24 am
Location: New Jersey

Postby socheat on Fri Dec 01, 2006 5:25 pm

Reminds me of the conversation I had w/ my wedding photographer a while back. I asked about his digital cameras, and he told me they used 12MP cameras, and that was really the highest they needed to go. I asked if that was enough to make large, high quality prints.

He went on to say that 12MP was about right for making medium/large prints (~16x16? can't remember) without any *technical* quality loss, and for really large prints (like ones that go over a mantelpiece), those are more often viewed from a distance so the slight quality loss is unnoticeable. He used billboards as an example... from a typical viewing distance, the billboard looks sharp and clear, but if you go right up to it, you'll definitely see a difference.

He emphasized "technical" quality loss because while, in his professional opinion, the quality difference to the naked eye was unnoticeable, he's had clients that claim they can see the difference between 8MP and 12MP on 8x11 prints. :)
User avatar
socheat
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 442
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2001 8:00 pm
Location: Ann Arbor, MI

Postby dodecahedron on Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:02 pm

a short while ago i stubled on a link to an article on a well know digital photography site, the article discusses how anything > 3MP is totally useless you can't see any difference (well, maybe you can if you blow it up to poster size), whereas all the new (last 2 years) prosumer cameras coming out with more and more megapixles are worse since the sensors for these high MP produce more noise, and you're better off buying a used 3MP camera than a new 6-and-up MP one.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the land of Mordor, where the Shadows lie
-- JRRT
M.C. Escher - Reptilien
User avatar
dodecahedron
DVD Polygon
 
Posts: 6865
Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2002 12:04 am
Location: Israel


Return to The Beer Garden

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests

All Content is Copyright (c) 2001-2024 CDRLabs Inc.