Digital Camera Manufacturer Web Sites 11/8/2002 Consumer Products - Digital Cameras or Digicams BenQ Corp. Canon USA Casio USA Contax / Kyocera / Yashica CREATIVE NorthAmerica Epson America, Inc. NorthAmerica - Click on Digital Cameras FUJIFILM Hewlett-Packard Co. JVC Eastman Kodak Konica - Click on Products then Digital Cameras Leica MAGPiX Minolta Corp. USA Minox Germany - Click on Products then Digital Cameras Nikon USA Olympus America, Inc. Americas Panasonic PENTAX Polaroid Ricoh Samsung UK Sharp SIGMA - Click on SD9 SiPix Inc. Sony Toshiba Vivitar Yashica / Kyocrea
What does your camera's MegaPixel (MP) rating mean? The higher a camera's MP number the better the resolution the better the picture quality. Megapixels translate to Picture Quality. MegaPixel Print Size Subjective Uses (inches) Ratings 1 5 x 7 Sharp Small Size Prints 8 x 10 Good 1.3 4 x 6 High Quality 5 x 7 High Quality 2-3 8 x 10 Excellent e-mail, web pages 11 x 14 Pleasing Larger Print Sizes 4-6 11 x 14 Excellent Well suited for larger prints or blowing up a sub-section of a picture for a smaller print. >6 11 x 14 Very Sharp Super High Resolution Professional Quality, can be used for virtually anything. Simple rule of Thumb -------------------- MP Prints up to: 1 5x7 (35) 2 8x10 (40) 3 11x14 (51) -------------------- STANDARD PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINT SIZES (collected and tallied from a dozen web sites) Wallet Sized 2x2, 2x3, 2.5x3, 2.5x3.5 (smaller than 3x5) Standard Prints 3x5, 3.5x5, 4x5, 4x6 (a few include 5x7 as standard) Standard Enlargments 5x7, 8x10, 8x12, 11x14 & 12x18 Poster Size 16x20, 16x24, 20x24, 20x30, 24x36, 30x40, 36x48, 40x60, 48x96 Panoramic 3x10, 4x10, 4x11, 4x12 (short height & long width) Squares Sizes 3x3, 3.5x3.5, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, 8x8 & 10x10 (rare, nonstandard) Rare Custom Sizes 4x7, 5x7.5, 5x8, 6x8, 6x9, 8x11, 9.5x12, 11x16, 12x16 Super Common Sizes 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 8x12, 3x5, 11x14 (by order of most common) ----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+ Print Print| MP = Megapixels | Size Area +-------------------------------------------------------------+ Inches SqIn | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 | ================+=============================================================+ 4 x 6 = 24 | 24 12 8* 6 5 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 | | | 5 x 7 = 35 | 35 18 12 9 7 6 5 4 4 4 3 3 | | | 8 x 10 = 80 | 80* 40 27 20 16 13 11 10 9 8 7 7 | | | 11 x 14 = 154 | 154 77 51 39 31 26 22 19 17 15 14 13 | | | 11 x 17 = 187 | 187 94 62 47 37 31 27 23 21 19 17 16 | | | 17 x 22 = 374 | 374 187 125 94 75 62 53 47 42 37 34 31 | ----------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+ TABLE EXPLANATION: The numbers in the larger part of the table are in millionths of a square inch. For example 1 pixel may have to cover 8* millionths of 1 square inch or 1 pixel has to cover 80* millionths of 1 sq. in, 10 times as much area. The smaller the numbers are the better the resolution and picture quality is. In other words, a picture where a pixel covers 8 millionths of a sq. in. will have much better quality than a picture where each pixel has to cover 80 millionths of a sq. in.
Extra Sharp 0 - 9 ES A+ 1 Very Sharp 10 - 19 VS A 2 Sharp 20 - 29 SH A- 3 Fine 30 - 39 FN B+ 4 Excellent 40 - 59 EX B 5 Good 60 - 79 GD B- 6 Mediocer 80 - 99 MD C 7 Poor 100 -149 PR D 8 Unacceptable 150 + UN F 9
Load Average Pixels Per Inch APPI table (new 11/2002). 2.0 x 2.0 = 4.00 2.0 x 3.0 = 6.00 2.5 x 3.0 = 7.50 2.5 x 3.5 = 8.75 3.0 x 5.0 = 15.00 3.5 x 5.0 = 17.50 4.0 x 5.0 = 20.00 4.0 x 6.0 = 24.00 5.0 x 7.0 = 35.00 8.0 x10.0 = 80.00 8.0 x12.0 = 96.00 11.0 x14.0 = 154.00 12.0 x18.0 = 216.00 16.0 x20.0 = 320.00 16.0 x24.0 = 384.00 20.0 x24.0 = 480.00 20.0 x30.0 = 600.00 24.0 x36.0 = 864.00 30.0 x40.0 =1200.00 36.0 x48.0 =1728.00 40.0 x60.0 =2400.00 48.0 x96.0 =4608.00 3.0 x10.0 = 30.00 4.0 x10.0 = 40.00 4.0 x11.0 = 44.00 4.0 x12.0 = 48.00 3.0 x 3.0 = 9.00 3.5 x 3.5 = 12.25 4.0 x 4.0 = 16.00 5.0 x 5.0 = 25.00 6.0 x 6.0 = 36.00 8.0 x 8.0 = 64.00 10.0 x10.0 = 100.00 4.0 x 7.0 = 28.00 5.0 x 7.5 = 37.50 5.0 x 8.0 = 40.00 6.0 x 8.0 = 48.00 6.0 x 9.0 = 54.00 8.0 x11.0 = 88.00 9.5 x12.0 = 114.00 11.0 x16.0 = 176.00 12.0 x16.0 = 192.00 4.0 x 6.0 = 24.00 5.0 x 7.0 = 35.00 8.0 x10.0 = 80.00 8.0 x12.0 = 96.00 3.0 x 5.0 = 15.00 11.0 x14.0 = 154.00
Web sites with special Digital-Camera coverage: DealTime - Shoppers Guide to 422 cameras, 61 mftrs. imaging resource Curly's DigiCam Links DigiCams.net - Links Page Glenn's Digicam Links megapixel.net - Monthly Digicam Magazine MegaPixel Myths - 5 page technical discussion Toshiba Digicam Glossary DP Review - Effective Pixels Sony Glossary Digicam Glossary Megapixel Primer Tustin Camera Glossary
CCD chips - charge coupled devices An integrated circuit chip with rows and columns of light sensitve diodes. Examples: Chip Format Pixel size Chip active (pixels) (microns) area (mm) 512x512 24x24 123x123 2000x800 15x15 30x12
Jim Shook 11/2002