MegaPixels- Find Out Optimal
Resolution Setting For Your Camera
MegaPixels debate is like
a debate of car engines. Is a 4 cylinder good enough? Is a V8 better
for you or a V6 engine? There is only one answer to such questions:
It depends.
Similarly, for a digital
camera, it depends on how you use your photos. Do you print large-sized
prints on paper or you just view it on a 22-inch monitor or a 60 "
LED HD TV. It is always not beneficial to take each photo in 24MP if
your camera can take 24MP photos. It will fill up your memory card quickly
and if you never print a photo in a size bigger than 8x10, there is
no benefit in taking each photo in 24MP Vs taking photos in 6MP
mode.
Read this paragraph carefully.
Here is the resolution typically required for various prints or
viewing. If you mostly print photos in 4x6 inch size, a photo printer,
or your eyes while viewing the photo, will not benefit from a resolution
higher than 800x1200 pixels. In MP terms, it is 1MP!!! Maybe you have
sharp eyes so you can take photos in 6MP mode LOL.
A 8x10 inch print typically
requires 1600x2000 (@200 dpi printing (most stores print at 150 dpi)
pixels. This in MP terms is a 3MP. Surprising, isn't it? Most rarely
print photos in 12x18 in size. However, as per the Costco.com website, you
can print this big-size photo with 1380x2070 pixels!! That is 3MP!
These days, most of us look
at photos posted by our friends on our smartphones. The leader in this
segment currently is iPhone 5. Its screen resolution is 1136x640 pixels!!!
Did you know that a 1 MP photo is too big for displaying every pixel
on iPhone 5???
What about viewing photos
on a 1080p HDTV? Well a 1080p HD TV has 1920x1080 pixels/LEDs whatever
you want to call it. In short, an HD TV can not even show a 2MP photo
in full resolution! Viewing
photos on a 22" LED monitor (1920x1080 pixels) is 2MP. Viewing photos
on a 30" LED monitor which has a resolution of 2560x1600 pixels doesn't
benefit from photos in resolution bigger than 4MP!
Many of our customers send
us photos in 16MP or even 20MP for converting them into Passport photos.
It takes a bit longer for the customer to upload such a large file compared
to a 4MP photo. For us too, downloading such photos takes a longer time.
Looking at several photos every day adds up to our bandwidth. We
are not complaining but trying to educate everyone about these MegaPixels
misunderstanding. Once we download a 4000x5000 pixels photo in a 10MB
file, first we crop it and then downsize the image to 800x800 pixels!!!
That only helps us process your photos faster but also there is no loss
in the quality of the photos printed on paper. A 2x2 inch photo really
doesn't benefit from a more than 600x600 size which in MegaPixels world
is 360K (Not even 1 MP but one-third of a Mega Pixels).
So before you fill up your
hard drives or struggle to send more than 2 photos in any email, remember
to find out the optimum resolution on your camera. We mostly take photos
in 8 to 10MP even though our cameras can take 20MP photos.
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