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Camera Resolution Explained • Landscape Photography
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BY NASIM MANSUROV | 107 COMMENTS
LAST UPDATED ON FEBRUARY 26, 2023 • Portraiture
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Although the megapixel race has been going on since the invention of the digital
camera, the last few years in particular have seen a huge increase in resolution.
The Sony A7RV has 61MP, a staggering number of megapixels for a full-frame
camera. VOTE
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It seems like we have already reached the theoretical maximum for handling
noise at high ISOs with the current generation sensor technology, so the
manufacturers are now focusing their efforts in packing more resolution, while
keeping sensor sizes the same in order to lure more customers to upgrade to the
latest and greatest. In this article, I will try to explain some basic terminology in
regards to resolution and hopefully help our readers in understanding camera
resolution better.

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Before we get started, let’s first talk about what resolution impacts and then we
will address some of the common misconceptions.

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Table of Contents PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY
1. Camera Resolution: What it Affects
2. Camera Resolution: How Much More is X MP vs Y MP?
3. Sensor Size, Pixel Size and Differences in Resolution
4. Lens Sharpness / Resolving Power
5. Technical Skill COMPOSITION & BLACK & WHITE
6. Video Quality CREATIVITY PHOTOGRAPHY

1) Camera Resolution: What it Affects

In digital photography, camera resolution is associated with a number of different
NIGHT SKY PORTRAIT
factors:
PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY

Print Size – usually the most important factor. Basically, the more resolution,
the larger the potential print size. Printing from digital images is
accomplished by squeezing a certain number of Pixels Per Inch (PPI). A high
quality print with good details usually involves printing at around 300 PPI, so STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
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the size of the potential print is calculated by taking image width and height
and dividing them by the PPI number. For example, a 12.1 MP resolution
UNIQUE GIFT IDEAS
image from the Nikon D700 has image dimensions of 4,256 x 2,832. If you
wanted to create a high quality print with lots of details at 300 PPI, the print
size would be limited to approximately 14.2″ x 9.4″ print (4,256 / 300 = 14.2
and 2,832 / 300 = 9.4). Larger prints would be possible, but they would
require you to either drop the PPI to a lower number, or use special third
party tools that use complex algorithms to upscale or “up-sample” an image
to a higher resolution, which do not always yield good results. In short, higher
resolution is usually more desirable for the ability to print larger.
Cropping Options – the higher the resolution, the more room there is to
potentially crop images. Although many photographers avoid heavy
cropping, sometimes it is necessary to focus on the desired subject(s). For
example, sports and wildlife photographers often resort to cropping,
because they might not be able to get closer to action, but at the same time
do not want their final images to contain unnecessary clutter surrounding the SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL

main subject(s). As a result, they often employ heavy cropping, which If you like our content, you can subscribe to our

ultimately reduces resolution, which is why they tend to desire as much newsletter to receive weekly email updates using
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resolution as possible and practical.
Down-sampling – as I have previously explained in my article on the Subscribe to our newsletter
benefits of high resolution sensors, the higher the resolution, the better the
options for resizing or “down-sampling” images. As I will explain further down
below, modern high resolution cameras have similar performance as their
lower resolution counterparts, but their main advantages are the ability to
down-sample to lower resolution to decrease the amount of noise and when
shooting at low ISOs, the ability to yield larger prints.
Display Size – during the past 10+ years, we have seen a significant
progress is display technology. Monitors, TVs, projectors, phones, hand-held
and other devices have seen big increases in resolution and the increased
space on those devices naturally led to the need to show higher resolution
images with more details. 4K TVs and even some 8K TVs are getting more
popular and common, which puts more burden on cameras to yield images
with enough details to showcase on such high resolution devices.

Judging from the above, it seems like higher resolution is always better. But
that’s certainly not the case, because it is not just about the quantity of pixels,
but their quality. Further down below, I will explain what this means in regards to
sensor size, pixel size, lens resolving power and technique.

2) Camera Resolution: How Much More is X MP vs Y MP?

When Nikon first introduced its D800 / D800E cameras with 36.3 MP resolution
full-frame image sensors, many photographers were still shooting with 12.1 MP
full-frame cameras like Nikon D700 and D3 / D3s. Doing simple math, many
claimed that the 36.3 MP sensor represented 3 times more resolution (12.1 MP x
3 = 36.3 MP) and some wrongfully assumed that upgrading to a camera like
D800 would yield 3 times bigger prints. While the total number of effective pixels
indeed is three times larger when comparing 36.3 MP vs 12.1 MP, the difference
in linear resolution is actually far smaller.

That’s because sensor resolution is calculated by taking the total number of

horizontal pixels and multiplying it by the total number of vertical pixels, similar to
how you calculate the area of a rectangle. In the case of the D700, which has an
image size of 4,256 x 2,832, the sensor resolution equals 12,052,992, which
rounds to approximately 12.1 megapixels. If we look at the Nikon D800, its image
size is 7,360 x 4,912 and hence the sensor resolution is 36,152,320, roughly
36.15 megapixels (the discrepancy between 36.15 vs 36.3 comes from the fact
that some of the pixels, such as optical black and dummy, around the edges of
the sensor are used to provide additional data).

Now if we compare the total number of horizontal pixels between the D700 and
the D800, it is 4,256 vs 7,360 – an increase of only 73%, not 200% as wrongfully
assumed by many. What does this translate to? Basically, if you could print a
detailed 14.2″ x 9.4″ print at 300 PPI with the D700, upgrading to the D800
would potentially result in a 24.5″ x 16.4″ print at the same 300 PPI. Hence,
moving up from 12 MP to 36 MP would translate to 73% and not 3x larger prints.
Again, it is easy to confuse total area with horizontal width, so it is important to
understand the difference here.

In order to yield twice larger prints at the same PPI, you would need to multiply
sensor resolution by 4. For example, if you own a D700 and you are wondering
what kind of sensor resolution you would need to print 2x larger, you multiply 12.1
MP (sensor resolution) x 4, which translates to a 48.4 MP sensor. So if you were
to move up to say the latest Sony A1 that has a 51 MP sensor, you would get
prints a bit larger than 2x in comparison. To understand these differences in
resolution, it is best to take a look at the below comparison of different popular
sensor resolutions of modern digital cameras from 12.1 MP to 50.6 MP:

As you can see, despite the fact that sensor resolution numbers increase
significantly when going from something like 12.1 MP to 50.6 MP, the actual
difference in horizontal width is much less pronounced. But if you were to look at
the total area differences, then the differences are indeed significant – you could
take 4 prints from the D700, stack them together and still be short when
compared to a 50.6 MP image, as shown below:

Keep all this in mind when comparing cameras and thinking about differences in
resolution.

3) Sensor Size, Pixel Size and Differences in Resolution

As you may already know, sensor resolution is far from being the most important
camera feature and a lot of that has to do with the physical size of the camera
sensor and its pixels. You might see two cameras with the same resolution, but
one might have a sensor that is significantly larger than the other. For example,
both the Nikon D500 and the Nikon D6 have 20MP sensors. However, if you look
at the physical sizes of sensors on the two, the Nikon D500 has a sensor size of
23.5 x 15.6mm, while the sensor on the Nikon D6 measures 35.9 x 24.0mm –
52% larger in linear width or 2.3x larger in total sensor area.

What does this mean? Despite the fact that both cameras yield images of the
same resolution, the physical size of each pixel on the D750 sensor is 52% /
1.52x larger in comparison. That’s how the two cameras are able to have similar
resolution and hence can potentially make similar size prints (more on this
below).

If we divide sensor width by image width, we can calculate the approximate size
of each pixel. In the case of the D500, taking 23.5 and dividing by 5568 yields
approximately 4.22 µm, while dividing 35.9 on the Nikon D6 by 5568 yields
approximately 6.45 µm pixel size.

So what difference does pixel size make in images? In essence, larger pixels can
collect more light than smaller pixels, which translates to better image quality
and handling of noise per pixel. However, there are a few caveats you need to
keep in mind:

Differences are small when there is abundance of light (low ISO levels) –
if shooting close to base ISO such as ISO 100-1600, there is usually little
difference in noise performance between pixels (for up to 2x pixel size
differences, but not larger). In the case of D500 and D6, both yield
practically noise-free images from ISO 100 to 800. However, there is a
noticeable difference in performance at higher ISOs starting from ISO 800, in
D6’s favor. So larger pixels tend to be more suitable for low-light
environments where higher ISO levels will often be used.
On the other hand, the low-light advantage disappears when cropping –
Once you start to crop the larger-sensor camera to match the sensor area of
the smaller sensor-camera, the noise performance advantage of the larger-
sensor camera will disappear. In the same vein:
If sensor size is the same but resolution is different, smaller pixels do
not necessarily translate to more noise – a sensor with more resolution
means you could print larger. Since noise is usually not evaluated on a per-
pixel basis, but rather on equivalent print sizes, you would have to print at the
same size to evaluate noise from two different resolution sensors. For
example, the Nikon D750 has a 24.3 MP sensor, while the newer Nikon D810
has a 36.3 MP sensor. Since the D810 has more resolution, its pixel size is
noticeably smaller than on the D750 (4.88 µm vs 5.97 µm), which means that
it is expected to see more noise if you zoom in to 100% view. However, if we
were to make equivalent size prints from both, we will have to resize images
from the D810 to match the print size of the D750 by reducing 36.3 MP to
24.3 MP, which at the same print size would show similar noise. Take a look
at the below images from both cameras, with the D810 image resized to 24.3
MP (left: Nikon D750, right: Nikon D810, ISO 1600):

As you can see, both images look

pretty similar in terms of noise, although the D810 is technically supposed to
have more noticeable noise due to having smaller pixels. If I replaced the
D750 with the 16 MP Df or D4s, the resulting images would look similar at 16
MP.

Given the above, how would an image from the 12MP iPhone X compare to an
image from the 12 MP Sony A7SIII full-frame camera? Well, there is simply no
comparison, as we are talking about a small sensor with tiny 1.22µm pixels on the
phone, versus a 35mm mirrorless camera sensor with huge 8.40µm pixels – a
difference of almost 7x the pixel size.

So even though the iPhone X has computational photography, the images from it
are in general worse than the Sony A7SIII, especially in terms of detail and noise,
compared to the iPhone X. There is simply no way to get around this huge
difference.

This shows that there is much more to resolution and printing than just pure
megapixels. Let’s now jump to Lens Sharpness and Lens Resolving Power.

ILCE-7M2 + FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS @ 70mm, ISO 6400, 10/1, f/5.6

4) Lens Sharpness / Resolving Power

Big megapixel numbers on the sensor are useless, if the lens is too poor to
resolve enough detail to provide data for each pixel on the sensor. A phone might
have 50 MP resolution, but how much detail can it actually show at pixel level
when compared to the 50 MP Sony A1 with a solid full-frame lens attached to it?
It also depends on the lens.

So the real performance of a 50MP phone might actually be closer to 30 MP in

comparison, maybe even less. It makes sense, because you cannot compare a
small sensor camera with a tiny lens to a full-frame camera and a high-end lens
with amazing resolving power. Another problem is diffraction – smaller sensor
cameras will be diffraction-limited at much larger apertures, which will also
effectively reduce sharpness and effective resolution.

When comparing same size sensor cameras with different resolutions, you have
to keep in mind that the camera with more resolution will always put more strain
on the lens in terms of resolving power. A lens might do quite well on a 12 MP
camera, but fail to resolve enough details on a 24 MP or a 36 MP camera,
essentially throwing away the high resolution advantage. In some cases, you
might be better off not moving up to a higher resolution camera to deal less with
other issues, such as the need for more storage and processing power.

Although manufacturers like Nikon and Canon have been actively releasing
lenses specifically designed for higher resolution sensors, you might have to re-
evaluate every lens purchased in the past to see which ones will provide
adequate resolving power for the high resolution sensor and which ones will
need to be replaced. In many cases older lenses will suffer from poor mid-frame
and corner performance, which might not be desirable for certain types of
photography such as landscapes and architecture.

This is especially true of using older, film-era adapted lenses on full-frame

monsters like the Nikon Z7.

FUJIFILM X-PRO1 @ 35mm, ISO 200, 1/90, f/5.6

5) Technical Skill
You might have the highest resolution camera on the market and the best lens
that is able to take a full advantage of the sensor and still end up with poorly-
executed images that lack detail to make good quality prints. Aside from being
able to take advantage of good light and carefully frame / compose the scene,
you also need to have good technical skills to yield tack sharp images. High
resolution cameras essentially “amplify” everything greatly, whether it is camera
shake caused by poor hand-holding technique, shutter vibrations originating
from the camera, poor focusing technique, unstable tripod, slight wind or other
various causes of blur in images.

So if you do decide to move up to a much higher resolution sensor, you might

need to spend some time learning proper technique to capture images. You
might have to re-evaluate your minimum shutter speed for hand-holding, use of
tripod, use of live view for critical focus, use of lenses and optimum apertures
and more. Because if you don’t, you might be wasting the potential of your
camera sensor.

6) Video Quality
Video, which traditionally has a lower resolution than photographers, has a
somewhat tricky relationship with your camera’s sensor. A higher resolution
camera may not mean better video quality. In fact, the Nikon Z6, which has a
lower resolution, has slightly better video quality than the Nikon Z7 for example.

Although the Nikon Z7 might be more versatile for photography, its lower-resolution companion the
Nikon Z6 is better for video

Different cameras use different techniques to produce a video image. Some only
take a crop of the sensor, while others downsample or pixel bin, and some just
use line-skipping to obtain the final video. Since video is typically not shot in Raw
with the exception of a few high-end cameras, it’s important to research the
video quality of the specific cameras you are interested in instead of assuming
that a higher resolution will result in better video.

In the next article, we go over the question on how much resolution you truly
need, by analyzing existing data and going over other considerations in regards
to moving up in camera resolution.

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About Nasim Mansurov

Nasim Mansurov is the author and founder of Photography Life,
based out of Denver, Colorado. He is recognized as one of the
leading educators in the photography industry, conducting workshops,
producing educational videos and frequently writing content for Photography
Life. You can follow him on Instagram and Facebook. Read more about Nasim
here.

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107 COMMENTS Newest

Bill Sortino
February 19, 2022 8:39 am

Hi Nasim! I know this is old school, but it is what I have. I am an artist and need to shoot
some work for publication in a book. in the past, I never had a problem with using my iPhone
for my digital imagery, however, for this publication I need to provide images that are shot at
300DPI!

The only camera I have available is my old Canon, SD 1100 IS, which allows me to shoot with
an ISO speed from 80, up to 1600. I am wondering if I do that, will that be adequate to reach
the 300DPI requirement? Also, I need then to transfer the images to my machine, but I have a
Mac and found that is not possible. If this camera, using the higher ISO level could work,
then could I bring it to a Kinko’s or the equivalent and have the images transferred to a zip
drive for use on my machine?

Sorry for all this, but I don’t want to buy a new camera if possible!

Many thanks,

Bill

0 Reply

Jaime Avayú
March 26, 2021 10:40 am

Hi Nasim.

I would like a recommendation with a new camera. I own a D7100 (24MP crop) and looking
for a new Canon EOS R6 which declares 20 MP, with a full frame sensor.

Would be this camera a real upgrade for me? Image quality will be better than in my old
D7100? Thanks !

0 Reply

fdx
March 2, 2021 4:27 am

I wonder one thing. If I have 48mpix camera set up as 12mpix – that means sensor is using
1/4 of pixels or using all and then every 4 pixels act as one (like heaving 4 times larger
pixels). how is down scaling working?

0 Reply

Bino
June 27, 2020 7:55 am

Very Good explanation

0 Reply

Bino
Reply to Bino June 27, 2020 7:57 am

Hai

-3 Reply

Dave Christie
June 16, 2020 5:34 am

Thank you for the explanation. I am looking at upgrading my camera and you have answered
all of my questions but also created a need for me to study more closely which camera to
purchase

0 Reply

John Short
June 20, 2019 2:07 pm

Thank you, Nasim. That was a really helpful article, cogently expressed, articulate, and it
explained clearly exactly what I wanted to know – as well as things I didn’t know I wanted to
know.

Terrific.

0 Reply

Alex
August 13, 2018 9:26 pm

I have, perhaps, slightly unrelated question:

I own now older but trusted Canon 1D Mk3 and wanted to know if when changing the size of
the photos inside the camera (from largest “L” to “Medium 2″ or Medium M1” or “Small”),
does the camera use the entire sensor or it reduces the number of pixels used during
exposure before it re-sizes them?
So, basically how do the images change quality-wise as their respective sized do?
Somewhere I read that smaller images receive some sort of interpolation processing and
therefore are more sharp — that’s aside from pure laws of physics when smaller-sized