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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: w7lwi on July 12, 2007, 22:57

Title: Image Resolution
Post by: w7lwi on July 12, 2007, 22:57

I thought I understood resolution, but suddenly someone is saying I'm wrong.  Fair enough, but let's see what others think.

Is there such a thing as a "high resolution" camera, or does the term only apply to print images?  Would a 4 megapixel camera be considered to have the same resolution as a 16 megapixel camera (extreme limits)?  My contention is that the 16 megapixel camera is higher resolution because, for the same image size, there are more pixels per inch, or DPI if you prefer for prints, than a camera that has a lower megapixel rating, and therefore its resolution is greater.

What has been said is that if an image is print ready, it is considered high resolution.  I am disagreeing with this statement, but if I'm wrong, I'm willing to learn.  This statement came up in reply to a question of what is considered a high resolution image?  I'd still like an answer to that question.  And if there is a difference in camera resolution, what would be considered the threshold between normal and high resolution ... 8 mp, 10 mp, 12 mp or ???

This can lead to another tricky question.  If a camera is of sufficient resolution, is it possible for it to show too much detail, enough that very fine detail, particularly in the background but elsewhere as well, could be mistaken for artifacts or possibly noise, depending on the detail's shape, color and size?

Title: Re: Image Resolution
Post by: Pixart on July 13, 2007, 01:23

Would the output resolution not depend on the size you print it at?  A 4 megapixel has 4 million megapixels, a 16 has 16 million.  If you are printing at 300dpi with no cropping, the 16 would still be 4 times larger?

When it comes to stock approval it should be judged upon viewing at 100% size so the "illusion" of artifacts/noise shouldn't come into play.  I know that some of the book publishers (i.e. mypublisher it think) want the photos downsampled to 5 mp, the larger files appear blurry in their finished products.  I think regular photolabs have software that take care of that problem though.

But, what do I know?