Originally posted by Geoff H First off is that these big mpx give only theoretical resolution advantages that need a perfect lens and technique to show. The other thing is that if you are printing big - then people don't stand 6 inches in front of it! A 16 mpx SLR will make 30' images beautifully if they are viewed from the correct distance:-)
I understand that, but 2 comments:
a. I like to compete occasionally in some of the juried gallery contests, and none of the dozen galleries (in my area) that i've seen so far, have really big spaces, yet they show prints or paintings up to 10 feet in one case.
b. So a lot of the time, folks pass pretty close to large prints. Even though its not required, the recent canvas i did at 3' length looks as good at 2 feet as it does at 45'. i did all the things i've learned to do for large prints - and it worked.
One irony of the current situation is that many cameras on the market (or in photographer hands) are capable of doing large prints, 1/3 of camera owners do not print at all according to one PF poll, and most images from even SLRs are shown at 1000 pixels or less on forums.
After perusing Falk's thread in the non-Pentax forum about the D800e with 36 mp, it looks like in 5 years, we'll be looking at the 16mp camera as "nothing special". Think i'll go out and take some pictures