If you are lovers of printed photography, of paper photos, you will surely be interested in having a photo camera with many megapixels. Well, in principle, the higher the number of megapixels, the better the quality of the photo.
But there are certain exceptions. In addition to the number of megapixels, other factors intervene that can improve or worsen the quality of our photo (I will talk about this on another occasion).
Some of you will remember, in a previous article that I titled 4 great deceptions of digital camera manufacturers, I told you that megapixels are important when choosing a good camera, but that it should not be given excessive importance. While it is true that a decent number of megapixels is necessary to print the photo at good quality, do not look for high numbers of megapixels either. And it is that people generally allow themselves to be influenced by numbers, often without analyzing them, without knowing why they want them.
To settle this question once and for all, today I have prepared a small table for you (lately I’m on the tables…) by means of which you will be able to distinguish how many megapixels you will really need if you want to print your photos on paper.
This graphic is based on 300dpi photo quality. If you don’t know what this number is, don’t worry, it is an indicator of the quality of the photo. Normally a photo at 200dpi should have a fairly acceptable quality, but here I present the table based on a 300dpi quality, that is, an EXCELLENT quality, in order to respond to the whims of the most demanding 🙂
Table of megapixels and print sizes in centimeters
megapixelsPrint Size (centimeters)Print Size (inches)2 MP13.2 x 10.2 cm5.2″ x 4″3 MP17.3 x 13 cm6.82″ x 5.12″4 MP20.9 x 13.8 cm8.21″ x 5.44″6 MP25.4 x 16.9 cm10.02″ x 6.67″8 MP27.6 x 20.7 cm10.88″ x 8.16″10 MP32.8 x 21.9 cm12.91″ x 8.64″12 MP36.3 x 23.7 cm36.3 x 23.7 cm16 MP41.7 x 27.6 cm16.40″ x 10.88″20 MP46.5 x 31 cm18.3″ x 12.2″24 MP50.9 x 34 cm20.02″ x 13.4″30 MP56.9 x 37.8 cm22.40″ x 14.9″36 MP62 x 41.4 cm24.40″ x 16.3″44 MP68.6 x 45.7 cm27″ x 18″Megapixel and Print Size Chart
megapixelsPrint Size (centimeters)Print Size (inches)2 MP13.2 x 10.2 cm5.2″ x 4″3 MP17.3 x 13 cm6.82″ x 5.12″4 MP20.9 x 13.8 cm8.21″ x 5.44″6 MP25.4 x 16.9 cm10.02″ x 6.67″8 MP27.6 x 20.7 cm10.88″ x 8.16″10 MP32.8 x 21.9 cm12.91″ x 8.64″12 MP36.3 x 23.7 cm36.3 x 23.7 cm16 MP41.7 x 27.6 cm16.40″ x 10.88″20 MP46.5 x 31 cm18.3″ x 12.2″24 MP50.9 x 34 cm20.02″ x 13.4″30 MP56.9 x 37.8 cm22.40″ x 14.9″36 MP62 x 41.4 cm24.40″ x 16.3″44 MP68.6 x 45.7 cm27″ x 18″Megapixel and Print Size Chart
So now you see, friends, a 10-megapixel camera should be able to capture photos that we can print in A4 folio size, maintaining the highest quality.
Do you understand now why I always insist that megapixels are fine but that you should not obsess about it either?
No more excuses. It doesn’t matter what camera you have, it doesn’t matter if it’s 10, 8 or 6 megapixels. It’s not the megapixels that will make you a good photo.
You will make a good photo.
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