Size Matters (Digitally speaking of course)

Digital image size makes a big difference in image quality. Why? Digital camera images are made of individual dots called pixels and a million of these pixels make one megapixel (MP). How many megapixels depends on the camera and and how it is set. How many pixels are enough? To make a true photo quality print a lab needs roughly 300 pixels for every inch of size of the final print. For example an 8x10 would require around a 2400x3000 pixel file for true photo quality. Since 8x10 is the most popular enlargement size and often images are cropped before printing or uploading we recommend setting your camera at 2400x3600 (about 8 megapixels)at the MINIMUM. Once we get past 15 MP we are nearing overkill for photojournalists. Even a photo half a page in size wouldn't benefit noticeably from shooting at anything higher than 15 MP and all that file size just takes up space on your card and hard drive and slows uploading.