Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/09/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Ted Grant wrote: > > So maybe the truth is, a 5-8 mgp is just fine for 99.9% of us, so why > are > people knocking their brains out being sucked into the larger is > better mgp > myth when you can't see the difference? > 99.9% of people seem to make 4x6 prints and in this case you are correct. 5 mp is perfectly fine even with a bit of a crop. Assuming that there is no point in printing at > 300 dpi (a number which is not set in stone, but what many knowledgeable people consider) and that there are visible difference ***with some images*** at dpi < 300. An 8x11.5 is roughly 10 MP in size at 300 dpi. A 13x19 is roughly 22 MP in size at 300 dpi. Larger prints require even more pixels. What is the limit? At some point you reach the lpmm resolution of the lens. Better lenses will resolve more information with higher mp chips of a given size. If you have not so good of a lens, there is no point in more MP (you can always smooth any pixel jaggies in photoshop). At some point you also reach the diffraction limits of the lens, and of the light waves themselves so there is a definite limit to how good lenses might be made for a given coverage (e.g. 35mm or APS). Of course if your image is blurry and/or out of focus to start out with more MP ain't going to fix that. Jonathan