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What kind of digital camera do you need for photo quality?

Zebo

Elite Member
At costco they have this really cool customer operated computer which accepts floppys/cdroms/compact fash/etc etc etc basically every media type for develpoment into prints. Any idea how high MP and brand needed for quality 35mm look alike prints?

Edit 4x6 prints
 
just regular 5" pictures? 2MP will do it if you use low compression jpg or raw files. the compression and ISO speed has tons to do with image quality problems.
 
Digital is still not quite up with "photo quality" but it will be soon.

The best bang for the buck IMO is the Canon 10D for $1499.
 
Originally posted by: BCYL
What size are you planning to print?

usually
4x6 = 2MP
8x10 = 3MP
etc...

Ok so 2 or 3 MP.. Thanks hows the canon a40. Is that low end of the spectrum?
 
Originally posted by: BCYL
What size are you planning to print?

usually
4x6 = 2MP
8x10 = 3MP
etc...

I agree and as for brands I would buy Canon, Fuji, Olympus, Nikon, Minolta or Sony.
 
The Canon A40, I've heard about that digicam 😉

It's a 2.1MP and should be fine for 4x6's and maybe 8x10's.
 
Originally posted by: Carbonyl
Originally posted by: BCYL
What size are you planning to print?

usually
4x6 = 2MP
8x10 = 3MP
etc...

Ok so 2 or 3 MP.. Thanks hows the canon a40. Is that low end of the spectrum?

A40 is an old model from Canon, and it's only 2 MPs...

If you are planning to make prints, I would suggest a minimum of 3MPs... The Canon A70 is a popular choice these days...

 
Originally posted by: BCYL
What size are you planning to print?

usually
4x6 = 2MP
8x10 = 3MP
etc...

Oh dear god no.

At 8x10, a 3 MP image would be less than 192 dpi, which is certainly not sufficient to have a good print sans artifacting.

Ideally, if you're printing at (what I consider to be) the bare minimum of 256 DPI, you would need a camera capable of taking a 5.25 megapixel image (2560x2048) in order to print a near-perfect 8x10".
 
Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Digital is still not quite up with "photo quality" but it will be soon.

The best bang for the buck IMO is the Canon 10D for $1499.

:Q differing opinion here. One guy says 2MP is adaqute you say spend $1500.😕
 
I have made 4x6 prints many many times with my old 2MP camera (taking pictures at 1600x1200), and they all came out fine (very similar to normal film cameras)...

I now have a 4MP camera (Canon S45), but I haven't made any 8x10 prints yet...
 
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Originally posted by: BCYL
What size are you planning to print?

usually
4x6 = 2MP
8x10 = 3MP
etc...

I agree and as for brands I would buy Canon, Fuji, Olympus, Nikon, Minolta or Sony.

4x6 is only 39 cents per print. So yea 4x6.🙂
 
Originally posted by: Carbonyl
At costco they have this really cool customer operated computer which accepts floppys/cdroms/compact fash/etc etc etc basically every media type for develpoment into prints. Any idea how high MP and brand needed for quality 35mm look alike prints?

Those stations are never photoquality no matter how high res pics you have. Typically, they're dye-sub, and dyesub doesn't offer anywhere NEAR the color gamut of a 6 or 7 color inkjet process.
 
Originally posted by: MachFive
Originally posted by: Carbonyl
At costco they have this really cool customer operated computer which accepts floppys/cdroms/compact fash/etc etc etc basically every media type for develpoment into prints. Any idea how high MP and brand needed for quality 35mm look alike prints?

Those stations are never photoquality no matter how high res pics you have. Typically, they're dye-sub, and dyesub doesn't offer anywhere NEAR the color gamut of a 6 or 7 color inkjet process.

So whats the solution if you want to make photo albums and such using a digital camera?
 
Well, it's really simple. Do the math.

You want to print a 4 x 6 print, and the minimum resolution you want to print is 256 dpi.

Therefore:

(4" height * 256 dots/inch) * (6" width * 256 dots/inch) = minimum resolution
(4 * 6) * 256^2 = min res
1,572,864 = min res

A 2 megapixel camera is more than enough to take images that will print perfect at 256 dpi.

You can repeat this calculation for any print size and any dpi resolution.
 
what exactly does the fujifilm machine use (walmart/sams club)? Regardless, for probably 75% of the general public, it's fine for 4x6 prints. I did an 8x10 w/ 2MP, and it was damn nice (s10). It was a bright outdoor shot tho, so that helped a lot. It wasn't perfect, but it works for everyone that glances at it when they walk in (picture of friend's uncle's viper 🙂).

 
This is what you do. Go to a review site that has sample images from all the camera. Download a few sample images (the full size images which they beg you not to download unless you really, really need to) from the cameras that you're looking at buying, and then burn those files to CD.

Go to costoco and print those images out. Then just decide if that's good enough for you.

The thing that makes digital look better than 35mm is the fact that you can choose which images you want, which you don't, etc. I print quite a few images at Cost Co, (usually at 3" x 5") and I think they look really good at full resolution using a 4megapixel camera. So, mattering how large you want to print the images out, you should be safe and happy at 4 megapixel.

Now, if you want real 35mm photography, you're going to either have to shoot 35mm, or spend a lot of cash on the digital side (and those in the know will still say that 35mm looks better even when you drop $1500.)
 
Originally posted by: Carbonyl
Originally posted by: MachFive
Originally posted by: Carbonyl
At costco they have this really cool customer operated computer which accepts floppys/cdroms/compact fash/etc etc etc basically every media type for develpoment into prints. Any idea how high MP and brand needed for quality 35mm look alike prints?

Those stations are never photoquality no matter how high res pics you have. Typically, they're dye-sub, and dyesub doesn't offer anywhere NEAR the color gamut of a 6 or 7 color inkjet process.

So whats the solution if you want to make photo albums and such using a digital camera?

Well, in the short term, going to the store every now and then will work fine. But when you get serious about it, buy a photo printer.

You don't need to spend a buttload of money. Something like the Epson 825 has IDENTICAL print quality to the 925, which is roughly 5% better than the output from the Canon i850.

And I think you can find the 825 for under $150 these days.

If you're looking in the $250 price range, the Canon i950 and Epson 925 are excellent.
 
Originally posted by: krackato
This is what you do. Go to a review site that has sample images from all the camera. Download a few sample images (the full size images which they beg you not to download unless you really, really need to) from the cameras that you're looking at buying, and then burn those files to CD.

Go to costoco and print those images out. Then just decide if that's good enough for you.

The thing that makes digital look better than 35mm is the fact that you can choose which images you want, which you don't, etc. I print quite a few images at Cost Co, (usually at 3" x 5") and I think they look really good at full resolution using a 4megapixel camera. So, mattering how large you want to print the images out, you should be safe and happy at 4 megapixel.

Now, if you want real 35mm photography, you're going to either have to shoot 35mm, or spend a lot of cash on the digital side (and those in the know will still say that 35mm looks better even when you drop $1500.)


Smart😛 thanks...
 
Originally posted by: RossMAN
The Canon A40, I've heard about that digicam 😉

It's a 2.1MP and should be fine for 4x6's and maybe 8x10's.

boy have you ever heard about that little digicam 😉
 
Originally posted by: RossMAN
The Canon A40, I've heard about that digicam 😉

It's a 2.1MP and should be fine for 4x6's and maybe 8x10's.

i have the A40. it prints really nice 4x6's and pretty good 8x10's.

if i was to buy a cam now i would pick up a A70. but how often are you going to be printing up 8x10's anyway?
 
Originally posted by: waggy
Originally posted by: RossMAN
The Canon A40, I've heard about that digicam 😉

It's a 2.1MP and should be fine for 4x6's and maybe 8x10's.

i have the A40. it prints really nice 4x6's and pretty good 8x10's.

if i was to buy a cam now i would pick up a A70. but how often are you going to be printing up 8x10's anyway?

The way I see it isn't "How often will you print 8x10s," but, "If you take an incredible picture, wouldn't you want it to be so high-res you could print it at any size up to and including 8x10?"
 
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