When considering an image for print you must consider the size of the digital file. We must point out that just because an image looks great on your screen does not mean it will make a fantastic print. For the sake of efficiancy online and offline, the majority of images seen on your screen and available or uploaded on the web are resized to 72ppi (pixels per inch) and for a reasonably good print you will need a minimum of 200ppi and for quality prints you will need a minimum of 300ppi.

Below is a chart to illustrate the different photo quality prints you can expect from your camera or digital image. Each box is  the number of megapixels of your camera. The chart shows on top and left side print dimensions in inches at 300ppi. Most printing sources require 300ppi for photo quality. For example, the chart shows that you can make a 5" x 7" quality print from a 3 megapixel camera image. The actual quality of the image is determined by many factors including the quality of the lens used. So your Cannon SLR camera with a fantastic lens will create a better quality image than your cell phone lens even if they are the same in megapixels.

inches @ 300ppi (large numbers inside boxes are the megapixels)

As print size doubles the megapixels required increases geometrically. Nice 8”x10” prints can be made with a 6 or 8 megapixel camera, but to make a quality 16”x20” it requires a 24 to 30 megapixel image. While a 16”x20” print can be made from 8 megapixel camera, it will not be photo quality.

Consider:

• A megapixel is 1 million pixels. It's an area measurement height x width.
   
• 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 quality image you can print, simply divide each dimension by 300:
  3266 / 300 = 10.89 inches
  2450 / 300 = 8.17 inches
   
• But don’t despair. If you are making prints for yourself or friends you can push the limits. Our Epson printer can make good prints print at 250 or 200ppi. So for that 8 megapixel camera image at 200ppi, the maximum print size becomes:
  3266 / 200 = 16.33 inches
  2450 / 200 = 12.25 inches
   
• Then with image editing software like Photoshop, you can push it even more by increasing the image size, and even doubling the number of pixels in the image. The newer the software the better the quality of this upsizing will be. The larger the image the more you can push the limits of print size.
   
• Also, the quality of the camera and lens is very important when pushing these limits. The lens determines the quality of the image to begin with. So your 8 megapixel Cannon SLR camera image will be much sharper and can be pushed more than the image from your 8 megapixel cell phone. The lenses are that much different in quality. When you push the limits on a digital image, 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

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

**At 150ppi, printed images will have visible pixels and details will look "fuzzy". We do recommend image of 180ppi or better.