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Tech Tips |
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Understanding Digital Camera Resolution
The resolution of a camera has been the golden specification of digital camera's since time on end. The more resolution, the better the camera. At least that's the belief. With digital cameras having sensors with more and more resolution, it's fair to ask how much resolution is enough?
The key to understanding resolution is to know how you are going to use your digital image. Resolution is important if you are going to print the image and you want a photo realistic image. If you want to use an image electronically - Powerpoint, web posting, display - then much less resolution is needed for acceptable results.
Photographic quality is generally defined as 200 - 300 ppi (pixels per inch). Using this standard (200 ppi), a 4 megapixel image (2272 x 1704 pixels) will convert into an 8 x 10 printed image 213 ppi. x 227 ppi. Packing the pixels tightly together gives your prints their high quality. A 4 megapixel JPEG image (2272 x 1704 pixels) file size is approximately 1.5 megabytes.
Electronic displays only have a ppi or dpi (dots per inch) of 72 to 96. Therefore it takes less image resolution to create an acceptable picture. Check out any picture on a website. Download it and look at the size (file size and dimensions). Images that look fine on the screen are much smaller than images that you print.
If you are going to use digital images for electronic display, you can take smaller, lower resolution pictures and still get good results.
The rule of thumb is to shoot a high resolution picture, at as high a resolution as the camera can handle - in case you want to print it - and then re-size the image for electronic presentations. You can compress images in Word and PowerPoint to save space and not negatively impact the quality of the image. Another advantage to compressing images, especially in Powerpoint - is that the size of the PowerPoint file gets much smaller and easier to move and store if you compress the images.
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