For printing to 11*14’’ at 300dpi, it is necessary to have 14mpx digital camera?

[iguana lagartijo]

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Hi, I’m interested in buying a digital camera that allow me to participate in some competitions. For one of them, the printing format requirements are: 11*14’’ at 300dpi. I found a rule for calculating the relation: inches-quality-mpx. According to this rule I got this: (11’’ 300dpi = 3 300) (14’’ 300dpi = 4 200) = 13 860 000 --> 13.8 mpx. So I understand that I necessarily need a camera with 14 mpx approx. Am I correct?

For another competition the format requirements are: “high resolution, jpg, 3MB to 5MB”. High resolution, means 300-1200dpi?

I'll appreciate your help.

 

[Leonard Migliore]

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Hi, I’m interested in buying a digital camera that allow me to
participate in some competitions. For one of them, the printing
format requirements are: 11*14’’ at 300dpi. I found a rule for
calculating the relation: inches-quality-mpx. According to this rule
I got this: (11’’ 300dpi = 3 300) (14’’ 300dpi = 4 200) = 13 860
000 --> 13.8 mpx. So I understand that I necessarily need a camera
with 14 mpx approx. Am I correct?
For another competition the format requirements are: “high
resolution, jpg, 3MB to 5MB”. High resolution, means 300-1200dpi?

I'll appreciate your help.

Your formula is correct but you missed the fact that there aren't any cameras that take pictures the same shape as 11X14. Assuming you're using a dSLR with a 3:2 aspect ratio, you'll need 3300 pixels by 4950 pixels or 16.3 mP.

One way around this is to increase the pixel count in Photoshop. I would guess that anything over 10 mP would look fine at 11X14.

With respect to the other requirement, jpg's really don't have a dpi, they just have pixels. So any ppi tag would be OK. My 12 mP camera has jpg's about that size.

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Leonard Migliore

 

[WFulton]

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Hi, I’m interested in buying a digital camera that allow me to
participate in some competitions. For one of them, the printing
format requirements are: 11*14’’ at 300dpi. I found a rule for
calculating the relation: inches-quality-mpx. According to this rule
I got this: (11’’ 300dpi = 3 300) (14’’ 300dpi = 4 200) = 13 860
000 --> 13.8 mpx. So I understand that I necessarily need a camera
with 14 mpx approx. Am I correct?

Yes, 13.86 megapixels is correct for 11x14" at 300 dpi, if that is actually the goal. Seems very hard to believe 14 megapixels is the requirement to enter a contest however, because who has that?

For another competition the format requirements are: “high
resolution, jpg, 3MB to 5MB”. High resolution, means 300-1200dpi?

High resolution means the full size image from camera, not cropped.

 

[iguana lagartijo]

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Thanks for your information, it is very precise.

Actually, I use a very old and basic 3.1mpx camera but recently I have been thinking about the possibility of formalize this hobby, and (in the best of the cases) try to make it productive. So that’s why as a first step I’m trying to understand the requirements of the regional and national contests and taking them as a base to determine the characteristics of the camera that I could buy. But obviously I’ve found that there are a lot of things to learn before taking a decision, I think this will take some time and a lot of homework.

I don’t know anything about Photoshop, but searching at the Internet I had this idea you mentioned: that it could be possible to increase the pixel count, but I had the doubt about the quality, for example, another contest requires “digitalized images at 16*20’’at 300dpi, or the equivalent, in JPG format”, so, do you think increasing pictures (took with a 10mpx camera) in Photoshop works, even at this size?

 

[iguana lagartijo]

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I agree with your observation about the requirement, and even more when the contest is open not only for professionals but also for beginners. That’s way I’m trying to be sure that I understand the requirements. :S

 

[JoePhoto]

It is true that you may indeed need 14-16mpx for a native 300 dpi resolution.

BUT ... I DOUBT that is what they demand. (since it is not even POSSIBLE except the most recent/expensive cameras)

They are asking for them to be PRINTED at 300 dpi, and any printer can automatically interpolate ANY file up to that level.

You could even start with a 1mpx camera, and still print at 300 dpi, (albeit the actual true resolution is still not any better than 1mpx .... so it is illusionary).

I would suggest that anything from a 6 to 12 mpx camera would work just fine.

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Hi, I’m interested in buying a digital camera that allow me to
participate in some competitions. For one of them, the printing
format requirements are: 11*14’’ at 300dpi. I found a rule for
calculating the relation: inches-quality-mpx. According to this rule
I got this: (11’’ 300dpi = 3 300) (14’’ 300dpi = 4 200) = 13 860
000 --> 13.8 mpx. So I understand that I necessarily need a camera
with 14 mpx approx. Am I correct?

Yes, 13.86 megapixels is correct for 11x14" at 300 dpi, if that is
actually the goal. Seems very hard to believe 14 megapixels is the
requirement to enter a contest however, because who has that?

For another competition the format requirements are: “high
resolution, jpg, 3MB to 5MB”. High resolution, means 300-1200dpi?

High resolution means the full size image from camera, not cropped.

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Thanks for reading .... JoePhoto

( Do You Ever STOP to THINK --- and FORGET to START Again ??? )

 

[iguana lagartijo]

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Thanks for the information, I think is very possible that your interpretation of my misunderstanding is correct. It hasn’t been easy for me to understand the relation dpi-inches-mpx. By the moment and joining the three replies, I think a 10mpx camera it would be an option that is in my possibilities. So I’ve won one first decision. Thanks to all.

 

[chuxter]

I think JoePhoto guessed right. Either you are reading too much into their requirements or they are dolts and not really stating what they want...actually, both could be true!

A few points...

1) If you submit a print, there is no way for anybody to tell if it was printed at 300 dpi. You could use 200 dpi and get the same results.

2) When you learn more, you'll find out about the EXIF data that is a part of each pic from your camera. It WILL have a number in the "DPI" field, but it doesn't mean diddly. Ignore it. It will just confuse you. If you want to, there are EXIF editors that let you change ALL the EXIF data to what you want it to be...but don't, because this is cheating!

3) You are very far from being a competitive photo contest entrant. Get a new camera (don't worry about the contest requirements yet). Get Photoshop Elements. Take some classes...read some books...peruse some sites...ask some questions...get some answers...become a photographer. This will take years!

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Charlie Davis
Nikon 5700, Sony R1, Nikon D300
HomePage: http://www.1derful.info
'I'm from Texas. We have meat in our vegetables.' Trenton Doyle Hancock

 

[WFulton]

I agree with your observation about the requirement, and even more
when the contest is open not only for professionals but also for
beginners. That’s way I’m trying to be sure that I understand the
requirements. :S

If there is any way to write or call them to ask about entry requirements, you should do it, and ask them if they actually mean all legal entries must be at least 3300x4200 pixels size (apparently stated as 11x14 at 300 dpi). My opinion is this would be an impossible requirement for 99% of us, and was certainly not intended that way. Whoever wrote it was just very weak on understanding fundamentals themselves. It is very common that many people have no clue.

Or if there is any question about interpreting the words they wrote, perhaps you could copy that requirement statement here, for aid in interpretation.

If I had a candidate photo which I thought could be a winner, but it was only say 6 megapixels, I would submit it anyway, assuming they could not be so stupid.

 

[iguana lagartijo]

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Tks for the information and for your advices. I'll considerate them.