I read that even 3 mega pixel cameras have poor quality when enlarging photos beyond 5"x7." If this is the case, how do you get around this short comming outside of using a standard 35mm or larger format camera? I'm interested in making poster size prints digitally. Thanks.

-- stan coriolan (coriolan@dellmail.com), June 05, 2000

Answers

A 3mp camera should give perfect prints up to 8x10. What you need is about 200 pixels-per-inch. 2048 x 1536 pixels translates to 192 ppi. To print poster size would demand a lot more. However, for some type of pictures, re-sizing using Photoshop or Genuine Fractals may give you good prints.

-- Jonathan (JonathanFung@Home.com), June 06, 2000.

While the 200dpi rule is technically correct, I have found that reality is much more forgiving. Unless you stand very close and have a very critical eye, even a 2MP camera will give very good results for 2x3 foot posters, if done right. Use Qimage or something similar to interpolate the picture up to 150dpi for the size you want using Bicubic spline. Then send the image to www.bignose.com. I had a 75% cropped image from my Olympus 2020 printed at 24x36" by them for only $19.95 and was blown away by the quality!

-- Brad Grant (bradandsteph@home.com), June 06, 2000.