Remember, picture quality is a combination of lens quality and film/sensor quality..

So when you crop tomuch, and then enlarge a lot, you're asking a lot of the lens..

That said, a 4x6 print out of the center (more or less) of an 8 x 12 print, meaning you have only one quarter the area of the original, will still be very good, if the original was well lit, shutter speed high enough, and focus good..

No problem doing this with a 6MP file..

That said, it dpends on the subject. If there center is someone holding a magazine and you want to read the words on the pages... that's more of a challenge than a group of tulips in a garden.

BAK..

Keith Allen wrote:.

I.e. would a 50% crop be equivalent to that at 100% on a 6 MP camera,therefore giving a 3x zoom camera a 'usable' equivalent 6x range..

Nope. It would give 3MP. Half vertically, half horizontally -> /4...

Thanks for that..

I have a Fuji F31fd which is great in low light situations but only downside is using it at a concert/sporting event as it only has a 3x zoom..

The new F50fd has twice the Megapixels (12 MP) so if low light tests suggest it does a reasonable job I'm guessing I could get away with cropping twice as much as with the F31fd at 6 MP..

Plenty of longer than 3x zoom digicams out there but none are as good as the Fuji's in low light it seems..

Giving me something to think about anyway...........

Apiron wrote:.

Keith Allen wrote:.

I.e. would a 50% crop be equivalent to that at 100% on a 6 MP camera,therefore giving a 3x zoom camera a 'usable' equivalent 6x range..

Nope. It would give 3MP. Half vertically, half horizontally -> /4..

I see. Thanks for that..

3MP should be enough for a reasonable 6x4 print I would guess...

Keith Allen wrote:.

3MP should be enough for a reasonable 6x4 print I would guess..

3MP will be fine for a 6X4 print. Following is a link to a site that has some decent basic recommendations on resolution & print size. Although there are a number of variables involved, the chart at the bottom of the page is a reasonable starting point..

Http://www.photo.co.nz/faq/resolution.htm.

Best regards,Doughttp://pbase.com/dougj.

Http://thescambaiter.comFighting scammers WW for fun & justice..

Crop to about 60% (3/5) in width and same in height. It is enough for a 6x4..

12MP * 3/5 * 3/5 =4.32MP s that means never go lower than 58% if you are printing the picture because 4MP is small enough...

A 6x4 print at 300 dpi is about 2.16 MP.

So in theory you could crop down that far (down to about 18% of the original image area) before you start actually losing pixels from the original..

But as others have pointed out, other factors such as lens quality, focus, camera shake etc will come in to play well before that. So the results will vary between pictures, but I would suggest that only the very rarest and best of your images would take a crop that deep..

On the other hand, a 6x4 viewed from a reasonable distance wouldn't necessarily show up all those flaws..

I'd crop a 12MP image down to 18% for the family album. I doubt that I'd present such an image as part of my portfolio .

Image control:Zoom outZoom 100%Zoom inExpand AllOpen in new window..

A lot of camera say they have "optical zoom" and "digital zoom.".

IOptical is the physical movement of lens elements..

Digital zoom is just the camera doing the cropping from the image, more or less likeyou suggest..

BAK..

6x4 at 200dpi is 1200x800 pixels (one measly megapixel if my math is correct)...