Home > Processing Photos > Printing > Megapixels and print size
Megapixels and print size
Suggested number of megapixels for high quality prints
If you print large photos and want to larger maintain fine detail, set your camera to it's highest megapixel and quality setting.
Here are the recommended number of megapixels based on print size. If you crop images a lot, you should increase the minimum suggested megapixels.
| Max Print Size | Minimum MP | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| 4 x 6" | 2 megapixels | 1600 x 1200 |
| 5 x 7" | 3 megapixels | 2048 x 1536 |
| 8 x1 0" | 5 megapixels | 2560 x 1920 |
| 11 x 14" | 6 megapixels | 2816 x 2112 |
| 16 x 20" | 8 megapixels | 3264 x 2468 |
Print quality also depends on a number of other factors, such as the quality of the original image or the type of printer and paper used. If an image is dark or blurry, resulting prints will be poor. If you do your own printing, a photo printer and high quality photo paper yield the best results.
No more 2 megapixel cameras
It should be pointed out that few, if any, 2 - 4MP are manufactured today. That does not change the fact of the firgures above.
