What resolution does my digicam need to print out 8x10's?

I have a new digital SLR camera and I'm just beginning to explore printing out photos as I have a good grasp on taking them. What minimum resolution do you need for "film print quality" 8x10's? Is there a hard and fast rule, or some group of general guidelines, or a formula, or what? I know I can test it myself and see, but I'd like some heads up before I start. Ideally there's a formula that says "X" number of pixels will print up to "Y" by "Z" sized prints without any loss in quality (e.g. graininess, etc.). Any help out there? Much appreciated.

Assuming the photo is minimally cropped from the original (and not a tiny section of a larger image) any camera with 3.2 megapixels or more will get you *very* clear and clean 8x10s. This is assuming, of course, that the original image is not blurry or filled with digital noise, etc.

Hope that helps!

-- Richard Rasner
Nakayama Studios

The industry standard for print-resolution images is 300 dpi. But anything bigger than that is good too.

It all depends on the resolution. For example, the resolution of a pictures lets say 4x6 with a resolution of 72 dpi. The resoluiotn (dpi) stands for dots per inch, meaning that the 4x6 image has 72 pixels in each inch. A 4x6 inches image is 288x432 pixels.

The standard resolution for printed images is 300 dpi. You can however get away with 150. For example, depending on how much memory your SLR camera can hold, you can get away with setting the size of your pictures at 4x5 instead of 8x10 with a 300 dpi, then blow them up to 8x10 with 150 dpi.

Whatever you do, make sure your photo is at least 72 dpi when you print it. 72 dpi is the lowest resolution that an image needs to have a crisp quality. Some digital devices automatically take pictures at 72 dpi, however the image size is really big, say 24x 30, in which case you could resize the image to 8x10 with 300 dpi.

Some cameras allow you to change the size and/ or resolution. If you take your photos at 8x10 with 72 dpi, when you print them, they will look fine, however, if you take 4x5 at 72 dpi and try to blow the picture up to 8x10 with any resolution (whether it be 72 or 300) your photos will be pixelated.

I am pretty sure your camera will allow you to change either the size or resolution of your pictures. If it doesn't you need to change them with your computer. If your camera didn't include a software to do so, there are some programs out there that aren't expensive that will do the trick. Try Adobe Photoshop Elements or Microsoft Picture it!

I have a Sony Cyber shot- its about 4 years old now and is considered "ancient" by industry standards. But the lens is excellent and its a 3.3 megpixel camera. And the maximum it goes inprinting terms is 8x10.

Good luck.

www.nomorebadphotos.blogspot.com