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How Large Can You Enlarge Different Megapixels?

A lot of people using digital cameras want to know how large they can blow up or enlarge their photographs based on different pixel settings. This article is aimed at teaching you how much you can enlarge your photographs depending on what type of digital camera you’re using and what the pixel settings are on your camera.

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As a general rule of them here is the chart that outlines how big you can blow up your digital pictures.

To use this chart find the resolution of your image and multiply it to find out how many megapixels the image is. For example a 1024 pixel by 1024 pixel image would be a 1MP image because 1024X1024 is about 1 million pixels.

1MP = 1 Million Pixels and so on.

This chart was prepared for us by one of our students.

  Quality Comments Digital Camera dpi Range
Superb
Superb
 Just about the finest quality possible!
200+ dpi
Excellent
Excellent
 The casual photographer will see no difference to a slight difference when compared to Superb.
150-199 dpi
Better
Better
 Better than Good, but not as good as Excellent. The typical photographer will be very happy with prints of this quality.
100-149 dpi
Good
Good
 Quality that your typical photographer will be happy with.
80-99 dpi
Fair
Fair
 Quality will depend on the individual picture. For larger size prints the typical photographer will find them acceptable, but the sharpness will not be as high as a Good quality print. Compelling subject matter may trump the loss of sharpness.
79 dpi or less

Here is another table for your reference

CCD Size

Maximum Image Resolution

Printing Size (inches and cm)

1.3 Megapixel

1280 x 960

4.27″ x 3.2″ (10.9cm x 8.1cm)

2.11 Megapixel

1600 x 1200

5.33″ x 4″ (13.5cm x 10.2cm)

3.34 Megapixel

2048 x 1536

6.83″ x 5.12″ (17.3cm x 13cm)

4.1 Megapixel

2272 x 1704

7.57″ x 5.68″ (19.2cm x 14.4cm)

5.2 Megapixel

2560 x 1920

8.53″ x 6.4″ (21.7cm x 16.3cm)

6-7 Megapixel

3000 X 2000 – 3240 X 2160

8×10 (see notes below)

8 Megapixel

 

8×10 (see notes below)

10 Megapixel

 

11×14 (see notes below)

It should be noted that the image enlargement size recommendations above are on the conservative size and will allow for optimal enlargement capabilities with the best and crispest possible picture.

However, you can still blow your photographs up further if you don’t mind loosing a little bit of crispness.

For example you can enlarge a 6-7 megapixel print to 16.20 or an 8 megapixel print to 17×22. Better yet, you can blow up a 10 megapixel print to 20×30 for a good quality print.

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The chart above was put together by one of our students.