Vincent Law
Android Enthusiast
Or if you ever plan to print them out.
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Things To Know About Camera's & Mega Pixels
- Thread starter bcalvanese
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- htc evo 4g
Or if you ever plan to print them out.
Conventional printers print in far less resolution (or dpi) than the average high resolution monitors most of us have. So it actually matters less if you plan on printing them out.
But like a said if you have a $10,000 roll plotter and you want to take a picture with your camera phone and make a giant poster to stick on your ceiling, then it'll matter.
Sorry but you are wrong. While an 8MP photograph may have 3 million more pixels, that doesn't mean it automatically has greater detail than a 5MP photo. For example, If I open a 640x480 image in Photoshop and enlarge it to 3264 x 2448, does it suddenly have greater detail? No. How does this relate to 8MP vs 5MP? It all comes down to the lens. A 5MP picture can have much more detail than an 8MP picture. Take a three year old Digital SLR. It might "only" have 5MP, but the photographs it takes are going to look 100 times better than a 12MP $150 Canon Point and Shoot. If the lens is crap, I don't care if it takes 100MP pictures, the image will still suck. This is exactly what Steve Jobs was trying to illustrate in the iPhone 4 keynotes.
bcalvanese
Newbie
I have been lurking on this forum since getting my EVO. I posted this thread to try and help people that mey have been a little confused about this stuff.
Maybe I shouldn't have.
I would appreciate it if the moderators would remove this thread.
Sorry.
I'm gonna go back to just lurking. It's safer that way.
Maybe I shouldn't have.
I would appreciate it if the moderators would remove this thread.
Sorry.
I'm gonna go back to just lurking. It's safer that way.
neodorian
Android Expert
The size of the sensor has an effect on the quality of the photo but it is neither the only nor the most important, except in cases of blowing up photos. The sensor is only as good as the light that is being focused on it and the software that it processing it. If you have a giant sensor and a tiny chip of glass for a lens, your photo will be a big high resolution picture of a mediocre image. If you have high quality glass and a tiny sensor, likewise you will get some nice photos but when you blow it up you can see the pixels of the raster image.
My DSLR has a 6 megapixel sensor while my Evo has an 8 megapixel sensor. Anyone wanna guess which one gives me better photos? Pixel density is only part of the equation.
Think of it like this: if you take a video that is encoded at 640x480 and display it on your badass 1920x1080 HDTV, it will still look like a low-res video. Spreading the image over more pixels doesn't change the source of the image to begin with. Likewise the light coming into a tiny cell phone lens and being focused on a large 8MP sensor won't necessarily produce an image that is any better than the same light being focused on a 6MP sensor. Your "bottleneck" in this case is the lens. It can only do so good a job at getting the light to the sensor. If you have a high end lens and camera and you want to take high quality photos for poster prints, then yes, you will want as big a sensor as you can afford. Pixel density will be your bottleneck here.
My DSLR has a 6 megapixel sensor while my Evo has an 8 megapixel sensor. Anyone wanna guess which one gives me better photos? Pixel density is only part of the equation.
Think of it like this: if you take a video that is encoded at 640x480 and display it on your badass 1920x1080 HDTV, it will still look like a low-res video. Spreading the image over more pixels doesn't change the source of the image to begin with. Likewise the light coming into a tiny cell phone lens and being focused on a large 8MP sensor won't necessarily produce an image that is any better than the same light being focused on a 6MP sensor. Your "bottleneck" in this case is the lens. It can only do so good a job at getting the light to the sensor. If you have a high end lens and camera and you want to take high quality photos for poster prints, then yes, you will want as big a sensor as you can afford. Pixel density will be your bottleneck here.
I don't think anyone is trying to bust your chops just for the sake of argument. The point is it comes down to more than just megapixels.
Vincent Law
Android Enthusiast
Uh, no. Resolution is not DPI.
The average computer monitor, even your 23" 1080P ones, are ~96dpi.
Even the cheapest inkjet printers typically have 600dpi or higher print options.
bcalvanese
Newbie
I removed all my posts on this thread, and am going to go back to just lurking on this forum unless I have a specific question.
I was only trying to help, and am sorry if I offended anyone.
I was only trying to help, and am sorry if I offended anyone.
I figured someone would point this out. DPI isn't the right term. Whatever term you use to express quality of a print with respect to screen resolution. It gets complex since a printer tries to use a few colors to reproduce a pixel from a monitor with a color palette of 16 million colors. Whatever you call it, it loses a lot of quality going to the printer, but you are correct in saying its not DPI, and its not resolution. But it looks sh*ttier, which was my point.
neodorian
Android Expert
And I'm sorry that you took a technical discussion personally. The whole point of this forum is to share info, learn, and in some cases, correct flawed or incomplete assumptions. I've been corrected here multiple times and it's never been a personal thing. I actually prefer when people correct any bad info I have or point out aspects I hadn't thought about.
Hope you stick around.
Vincent Law
Android Enthusiast
But they don't look "shittier". If you have a photo of enough pixels for the printer to print at a higher DPI, it will look better than your monitor, if for no other reason than the fact that it isn't backlit.
dannys58
Lurker
It does get personal when someone starts saying you have a stick up your blank. Now, I wish he would not have removed his posts, because if you wade through all the twits in mommy's basement it was good discussion...
I think when you follow up your original post by replying to someone who knows what they are talking about by sayin "Are you making this stuff up as you go along?" you cost yourself some civilities in the subsequent posts.
Nothing wrong with being corrected. That's how you learn things. I misused DPI, Vincent Law pointed it out, but I'm not going to go deleting all my posts. The purpose of these threads is to pass info on to anyone who reads it. Who cares if you get a little egg on your face? You don't know us and we don't know you, and hopefully if you have a similar conversation about this in the future you'll be able to explain what you learned to someone else. Life's too short to take things on the Andriod forum too seriously.
Oh don't get butt hurt over this and go deleting everything lol. Is this your first web forum?
There was nothing wrong with your OP. That said, when people tried to add their own opinions or additional information that is pertinent to the topic at hand you just picked a fight for no reason. No one even disagreed with you, they were just adding why megapixels don't mean everything. If anything you should be embracing the additional information added to this thread as it actually adds value to it and every post bumps it back to the top which gives your original post more views.
So relax, take a deep breath, and post away.
neodorian
Android Expert
Rob_A
Android Expert
Op, don't let it bother you. It's just the internet. Only benefit I can see having 8mp on my evo is I can crop more if I want to. Do I care if iPhone might have a better sensor? Not really. Does my evo take decent pics for a cell phone? Sure it does.
Also, I think it's really funny how iPhone camera is supposed to be this godly awesome picture taker. Everyone was saying the same thing about the Evo before it actually came out. Lol
Also, I think it's really funny how iPhone camera is supposed to be this godly awesome picture taker. Everyone was saying the same thing about the Evo before it actually came out. Lol
dannys58
Lurker
Right on, thanks. That is what I was hoping, or I flat did not understand anything...
neodorian
Android Expert
Example:
Here is a photo I took with my 6MP DSLR - http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3093/2796765706_23d31c9770_o.jpg
And here is one I took with my 8MP Evo - http://i49.tinypic.com/11b50g6.jpg
These are both low-light to really show the difference the lens makes over the sensor size.
Here is a photo I took with my 6MP DSLR - http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3093/2796765706_23d31c9770_o.jpg
And here is one I took with my 8MP Evo - http://i49.tinypic.com/11b50g6.jpg
These are both low-light to really show the difference the lens makes over the sensor size.
Backlit? I've never ever considered that mattering, let alone noticed it. What I have noticed however, is the difference between a color gradient on a monitor versus a print. You can see distinct lines in the gradient in the printer and not on the monitor. In other words its shittier.
Very often there are aspects in photos that resemble gradients like different shades of hair as light hits it differently. Its annoyed me for some time and I've had many different monitors, printers, and cameras.
Either you're not looking close enough at your prints, you have a monitor that needs some serious attention, or you need to tell us all where you got your printer.
I hope the OP will reconsider and repost his images.
There were a couple of posts in the thread that verged on "disrespectful" but I see one of my fellow mods dealt with them. I don't think there was any intent to offend, so please carry on as before and keep the discussion flowing.
There were a couple of posts in the thread that verged on "disrespectful" but I see one of my fellow mods dealt with them. I don't think there was any intent to offend, so please carry on as before and keep the discussion flowing.
Vincent Law
Android Enthusiast
Or you need to print at settings higher than 300dpi. Printers can easily have better color reproduction than your standard TN LCD panel.
The informative posts are still here. The only thing deleted were several posts reminding us that 8-5=3 and 8>5. If you need those then god help you.