What camera-performance do I need to print?

Hello

I'm totally new to digital photo. A simple question (maybe not):

Roughly what kind of performance do I need in a digital camera to be able to print digital UW-images in a coffe table-type of book? (large images/high resolution).

All the best

Christian

For high quality prints, you're probably looking at 300dpi. Consider the typical picture dimensions you'd be using (in inches) and multiply each by 300 dpi, and then multiply the figures you get to each other: that's how many pixel you want.

Sounds complicated, but here a simple example. If you want to print 8" x 12" photos at 300dpi, that's 8x300x12x300=8,640,000 i.e. roughly a 8mp camera will do the trick.

Mat

Thank's for the formula Mat.

/c

I think mattdiver's very clear formula expresses the ideal, but it also may be possible to produce high quality printed images very successfully with somewhat lower levels of resolution in the original. It depends partly on the image, also processing.

Specialised programs such as Genuine Fractals © can do an incredible job of rescaling images to higher than original resolution without generating artifacts of pixellation, and the book publisher/designer may have access to other tools. Again, how well this works may depend on the image. I certainly would not assume that 6 MP cameras cannot produce images good enough for printing at 8' x 12' at 300 dpi.

Frogfish

Ok, but "may be" is a little too risky for me. And the some pictures will be larger than 8"x12", about double that size sometimes. So I guess I'll have to examine the 12+ MP options if I go digital.

Thank's

Christian. Depending on what you are doing, you will certainly need to think about getting some good lenses as well, to make effective use of your higher resolution. I would suspect that it will be almost useless looking at anything that isn't an SLR in terms of image quality.

Yes, of course. It's mainly WA-photography, so a nice fisheye will be essential. Then housing, strobes, arms, cables, new laptop ...

Has anyone of you guys tried to print (in a book) UW-pictures that were captured with a digital system?

cheers

/c

Are you talking printing from your printer? Or having a professional publisher print for you? There is a big difference in DPI depending on what you want. For example, I print 13 by 19 at 130 dpi and get much sharper prints than at 300 dpi.

Joe

Sorry if I was unclear. I'm talking about professional high end book printing and NOT paper copies from a colour printer.

cheers

christian

I think you will find the general consensus these days that the hi end cameras such as the D2X and the Mark2 (or whatever that Canon is called..) give better results than 35mm film. At least on this board that is. But you will also find that a lot of top photogs with many books to their credit : Perrine, Watt, Rock etc use Canon 20D which is 8mp...

For the type book/pictures I had in mind, 35 mm isn't the norm as it gets too grainy when you blow it up, it's rather mid format 60x40 or 60x60.

Do any of you guys know of any examples (large/high res.) which you can refer me to, e.g. a specific UW-picture in a specific book that you know is shot with a digital system. I very much appreciate your help.

all the best

christian

Hi Christian,

If you search around the net you can often find test shots from a range of cameras and which are available, full size, for download. Why not use these for test prints to see which camera meet your needs?

Tim

Thank's for the advice Tim. I will try to find some full size test pictures.

all the best

/christian

You can have find a number of full-size test shots on www.dpreview.com.

Just select the camera brand and model, then go to "In-depth Review", and move on to the "Samples" section.

Mat