Print Sizes by Megapixel — FocalMath

A quick-reference table for the question "how big can I print this?" answered by real megapixel count rather than by camera model, since two very different cameras can share the same resolution. Twelve common resolutions are covered, from 12 megapixels up to 102 megapixels (Fujifilm's GFX 100-series medium-format sensors), each showing the maximum print dimensions at 150, 200, 240 and 300 DPI on a standard 3:2 aspect ratio.

These are lookup entries for a specific resolution — for a different aspect ratio, a specific viewing distance, or to work from your camera's exact resolution rather than the nearest round number here, use the Print Size / DPI Calculator directly, which also explains the viewing-distance reasoning behind why a lower DPI is genuinely fine for a large print viewed from across a room.

The short version of that reasoning: DPI requirements are not a fixed rule, they're a function of how far your eye sits from the print. 300 DPI is the conventional target for something held close, like an 8x10 on a desk, because at that distance the eye can resolve individual pixels well past that density. A gallery print viewed from six feet away, or a billboard viewed from across a highway, needs dramatically less — which is why a 24-megapixel file that looks merely adequate at 8x10 can still make a genuinely sharp-looking print at poster size once the viewing distance increases enough.

Each page in this reference set states its megapixel count's real pixel dimensions on a standard 3:2 sensor, then the resulting print size at four common DPI targets (150, 200, 240 and 300), so you can see the tradeoff directly rather than needing to run the calculator for a quick sanity check on a familiar resolution. If your sensor uses a different aspect ratio — 4:3 on Micro Four Thirds, for instance — the calculator handles that adjustment directly, since it changes the exact pixel dimensions even at an identical total megapixel count.

Organizing this reference by resolution rather than by specific camera model keeps it useful regardless of what body you own — many different cameras across different brands and years share the same or similar megapixel count, and the print-size math genuinely doesn't care which manufacturer's badge is on the camera.