Megapixels Chart

Each colored box represents a certain number of megapixels. The numbers along the top and left side are print dimensions in inches at 300ppi (pixels per inch). Most books and magazines require 300ppi for photo quality. For example, the chart shows that you can make a 5" x 7" photo quality print from a 3 megapixel camera.

inches @ 300ppi (numbers inside colored boxes are megapixels)

Notice that as the print size doubles, the megapixels required increases geometrically. You can make nice 8" x 10" prints with a 6 or 8 megapixel camera, but to make a true photo quality 16" x 20" print, you need between 24 and 30 megapixels. Don't be fooled by manufacturers' claims that say you can make 16" x 20" prints from an 8 megapixel camera. While you certainly can make a print that size, it will not be true photo quality.

Here's why:

• A megapixel is 1 million pixels. It's an area measurement like square feet.
• A typical 8 megapixel camera produces images that are 3266 x 2450* pixels.
  If you multiply 3266 by 2450, you get 8,001,700 or 8 million pixels.
• To find the largest photo quality image you can print, simply divide each dimension by 300:
  3266 / 300 = 10.89 inches
  2450 / 300 = 8.17 inches
• If you are not publishing your images in a book or magazine, and you're just making prints for yourself or your friends, you can "cheat". Good quality inkjet printers can make a nice looking print at 250 or 200ppi. At 200ppi, the maximum print size becomes:
  3266 / 200 = 16.33 inches
  2450 / 200 = 12.25 inches
• If you know how to use image editing software like Photoshop, you can "cheat" even more by increasing the image size, and even doubling the number of pixels in the image. The quality of the camera and lense becomes more important at this point bacause any loss of detail or sharpness is magnified. If an image is enlarged too much in this manner, it will look "fuzzy" or "pixelated".

Megapixels vs. Maximum Print Size Chart

Megapixels	Pixel Resolution*	Print Size @ 300ppi	Print size @ 200ppi	Print size @ 150ppi**
3	2048 x 1536	6.82" x 5.12"	10.24" x 7.68"	13.65" x 10.24"
4	2464 x 1632	8.21" x 5.44"	12.32" x 8.16"	16.42" x 10.88"
6	3008 x 2000	10.02" x 6.67"	15.04" x 10.00"	20.05" x 13.34"
8	3264 x 2448	10.88" x 8.16"	16.32" x 12.24"	21.76" x 16.32"
10	3872 x 2592	12.91" x 8.64"	19.36" x 12.96"	25.81" x 17.28"
12	4290 x 2800	14.30" x 9.34"	21.45" x 14.00"	28.60" x 18.67"
16	4920 x 3264	16.40" x 10.88"	24.60" x 16.32"	32.80" x 21.76"
35mm film, scanned	5380 x 3620	17.93" x 12.06"	26.90" x 18.10"	35.87" x 24.13"

*Typical Resolution. Actual pixel dimensions vary from camera to camera.

**At 150ppi, printed images will have visible pixels and details will look "fuzzy".

For an explanation of "pixels per inch" vs. "dots per inch" and why you need 300ppi for true photo quality,
see our Printing Guide.

Photography Printing Guide

dpi is NOT THE SAME as ppi !!

Even though "dots per inch" (dpi) and "pixels per inch" (ppi) are used interchangeably by many, they are not the same thing. Traditional printing methods use patterns of dots to render photographic images on a printed page. While pixels on a monitor are square and in contact with the adjacent pixels, printed dots have space between them to make white, or no space between them to make black. Color photographs are printed using four inks, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK), and four separate dot patterns, one for each ink. Dots per inch (dpi) refers to printed dots and the space between them, while pixels per inch (ppi) refers to the square pixels in a digital image. Keep in mind that many companies will ask for images at 300dpi when they really mean 300ppi.

Why do I need 300ppi for a "photo quality" image?

First, some background information is necessary. A digital image is what it is. It is however many pixels wide by however many pixels tall. If you divide each dimension by 300, you will have the size of the image at 300ppi. Now think about 300 pixels in an inch of space. Each pixel could be black, white, or any other color, but they are all next to each other with no spaces between them. When a digital image is prepared for reproduction on a printing press, pixels are converted to dots. Dots have spaces between them. 300 pixels become 150 dots and spaces, so 300ppi becomes roughly 150dpi. 150dpi is the accepted standard for printing photographic quality images.

Printers usually refer to the number of rows or lines per inch (LPI). 150 lines per inch is simply 150 rows of 150 dots per inch. 150 LPI and 133 LPI have long been the established standards for the best quality reproduction of photographs in books and magazines. Newspapers traditionally use 85 LPI for photographs and detail is lost because the dots are plainly visible.

Viewing distance changes everything!

Everything is relative to viewing distance. 150dpi (or 300ppi) is accepted as photo quality because the average person cannot see the "dots" at a few inches away. A real photograph made from film in a darkroom has no dots or pixels and therefore is the standard by which "photo quality" is judged. When you move the viewer further away from the printed material, lower dpi is acceptable. A huge billboard might be printed at only 40dpi but no one notices because everyone is 50 yards away from it.

I always see "72dpi". Where is that used?

72dpi should really be 72ppi because most likely, it has nothing to do with printing. Most of the time, 72dpi refers to output on a computer monitor. A 72 pixel by 72 pixel image should take up about one inch of space on the screen. This of course depends on the size of the monitor and what resolution it is set to. When creating images for web sites, we've found it's best to determine what screen resolutions will be used most often by that site's visitors, instead of thinking about inches at all.

Megapixels vs. Maximum Print Size Chart

Megapixels	Pixel Resolution*	Print Size @ 300ppi	Print size @ 200ppi	Print size @ 150ppi**
3	2048 x 1536	6.82" x 5.12"	10.24" x 7.68"	13.65" x 10.24"
4	2464 x 1632	8.21" x 5.44"	12.32" x 8.16"	16.42" x 10.88"
6	3008 x 2000	10.02" x 6.67"	15.04" x 10.00"	20.05" x 13.34"
8	3264 x 2448	10.88" x 8.16"	16.32" x 12.24"	21.76" x 16.32"
10	3872 x 2592	12.91" x 8.64"	19.36" x 12.96"	25.81" x 17.28"
12	4290 x 2800	14.30" x 9.34"	21.45" x 14.00"	28.60" x 18.67"
16	4920 x 3264	16.40" x 10.88"	24.60" x 16.32"	32.80" x 21.76"
35mm film, scanned	5380 x 3620	17.93" x 12.06"	26.90" x 18.10"	35.87" x 24.13"

*Typical Resolution. Actual pixel dimensions vary from camera to camera.

**At 150ppi, printed images will have visible pixels and details will look "fuzzy".