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Here’s how to find out:
Want to know how big a print you can make before you start to lose sharpness compared to film? It’s simple and here’s the formula for general cases:
Long print dimension in inches = 4 x (square root of megapixels)
For example, for a four megapixel camera the square root of four is two. Two times four is eight. Thus the biggest print you can make without losing sharpness compared to film at normal viewing distances is is 6×8.” From a sixteen MP camera likewise you could go 12×16.” Of course you can print bigger, just you won’t have the sharpness of film. Also few people are able to get all the sharpness of which film is capable, making this harder to compare.
... Don’t worry too much about this, since sharpness is not as important in color as it is in B/W. I make 12×18” color prints all the time from 3 to 6 MP cameras and they look great, since I only print images that are good to begin with.
So, here’s a helpful table.
| Mega- pixels |
Long Dimension of Print in Inches |
| 3 | 6.93” |
| 4 | 8.00” |
| 5 | 8.94” |
| 6 | 9.80” |
| 7 | 10.58” |
| 8 | 11.31” |
| 9 | 12.00” |
| 10 | 12.65” |
| 11 | 13.27” |
| 12 | 13.86” |
