Quantity IS Quality
If you want the best possible print, you need to upload the best quality digital file. Sometimes photos might look just fine when you look at them on your computer screen, and you might wonder what’s up with us when we say we can’t print them. Photos that don’t have sufficient resolution will look all blurry and pixilated (blocky with jagged edges) when printed.
Case in point: These horses look just fine at this small size. The image was shot at the camera’s lowest resolution setting and measures 368x256px. It would print out best at 3½x5.
Now take a look at what happens when we try to print this photo at a larger size.
This is why AdoramaPix has guidelines for the minimum resolution that is required for a good quality print, and we just won’t print images that don’t measure up.
All the print sizes that are available for your images will be shown on the “Enter Quantities” page. If you are placing an order and don’t see the print size you want, it may be that your images don’t have sufficient resolution to support a larger print size. Switching to “Advanced Mode” will let you see exactly which of your images can be printed at what sizes.
Resolution: It’s not just for New Year’s anymore
Resolution isn’t just something you think about on New Year’s Eve and then forget about the rest of the year. Photographically speaking, it is the amount of digital information stored in your image in individual pixels, or dots of color (or shades of black and white, if your image is, well, black and white). The more unique pixels or dots of information stored in your image, the more detailed the image and the better quality the print will be. Lower resolution means less detail, and unfortunately, a lower quality print of the image will result (the blockiness and general blurriness we mentioned above).
Resolution is measured in megapixels (that’s a million pixels!) for your digital camera, and in individual pixels for images. Your camera might be a 6 megapixel model, but if you set it at a low resolution setting, your images might only measure 500x500 pixels.
This handy table shows the standard image resolution in pixels that average megapixel cameras will create. Remember: always use the highest resolution setting in your camera for images that you will want to print.
Camera megapixels Approximate standard image resolution in pixels
2 megapixels 1600 x 1200
3 megapixels 2048 x 1536
4 megapixels 2274 x 1704
5 megapixels 2560 x 1920
6 megapixels 2816 x 2112
7 megapixels 3072 x 2304
8 megapixels 3450 x 2300
10 megapixels 3650 x 2736
12 megapixels 4288 x 2850
16 megapixels 4600 x 3450
18 megapixels 5185 x 3450
20 megapixels 5475 x 3650
24 megapixels 6000 x 4000
This table shows the optimal and minimum image resolution for printing at AdoramaPix’s print sizes. We recommend image resolution of at least 300 pixels per inch (it’s abbreviated dpi for Dots Per Inch) for the best possible image quality, but we will print photos for images of at least 100 pixels per inch. Anything below that? You guessed it, the blocky blurriness.
Print size Optimal Resolution Minimum Resolution
For good print quality less optimal image quality
300px per inch 100px per inch
3.5x5 1500 x 1050 500 x 350
4x5 1500 x 1200 500 x 400
4x6 1800 x 1200 600 x 400
4x12 3600 x 1200 1200 x 400
5x5 1500 x 1500 500 x 500
5x7 2100 x 1500 700 x 500
6x9 2700 x 1800 900 x 600
8x8 2400 x 2400 800 x 800
8x10 3000 x 2400 1000 x 800
8.5x11 3300 x 2550 1100 x 850
8x12 3600 x 2400 1200 x 800
9x12 3600 x 2700 1200 x 900
10x10 3000 x 3000 1000 x 1000
11x14 4200 x 3300 1400 x 1100
12x12 3600 x 3600 1200 x 1200
12x18 5400 x 3600 1800 x 1200
16x20 6000 x 4800 2000 x1600
20x30 9000 x 6000 3000 x 2000
24x36 10800 x 7200 3600 x 2400
Comments
5 comments
They require submitted files to be at that resolution Ale.
I have beautiful images (printed on 'matte' paper, my preferred surface) where transitions from shadow to mid-tones to highlights are 'smooth as silk'; though sharpened 'up' a bit (in order to compensate a little for 'dot gain' on a surface like 'matte') – even up close to the print – one is unable to see ANY pixelization.
I'm looking forward to my first series of large prints back from you guys coming up on 2 February.
Absolutely. 200dpi is still a good resolution or we wouldn't allow people to print their images at that resolution. 300dpi is just the ideal/maximum resolution.
Is 200ppi the other company's minimum, or their maximum?
For "optimal" quality is tif better than jpg?
Very informative thread.
Here's a question for you, Ale, based upon your recommendation suggesting images handed to you for print be at 300ppi (for optimal print rendering):
I have, in the past here in losangePhoenix, had a professional print service in town do work for me. They have an output setup likely much as the one you all have there at AdoramaPix – however are considerably more expensive for work done (but well worth it I have found).
In their guidelines provided for print orders they require print res to be at 200ppi, not 300ppi. The images I have had them print for me (also on a matte surface as I will have you guys do for me now) look phenomenal!
So, all that being said, are we able to send you well-edited image files at 200ppi and still expect a "wonderful" print? (A potential additional 'upside' – for those not so familiar with "image resolution" – is that one is also able to consider having a print made at approximately 150% the size of what we could expect to have made IF we were printing at that 300ppi resolution.)
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