Shooting for publication

[SGirl]

Hiya,

Just musing on something which someone asked me the other day, does anyone know the answer? (Said she, knowing full well that someone on here will because this is PH... )

If you're shooting for a magazine, I'd imagine that you need to make your images as detailed as you can. But would the 10 MP output of a Nikon D200 be sufficient, or would it be a better idea to go for a Canon 5D or even more MP?

I'm vaguely considering a move to a 5D at the moment (I quite fancy the full-frame...). Not for shooting for publication! Just because I feel like a change and something a bit different. I still love my D200 though.

[GetCarter]

It depends on the size of the photo. Generally speaking you need 300dpi for a mag (If you open a photo from your D200 in Photoshop and change the dpi to 300, you'll see how large the photo would end up).

[SGirl]

Thanks Steve.

So in other words - the more detailed the image out of the camera, the bigger it can be printed and so the more chance of it making it into print. Makes sense!

[andybuk99]

But also take into account the quality of the pixels in the camera, my old 6mp digital back could beet any 12mp point and shoot camera quality wise.

[baz7175]

Also another thing to bear in mind is to ask the mag you would be doing the work for which format they would need the pics submitted in, some demand RAW and others simple jpg's, so always make sure you have this confirmed before shooting otherwise you may have to redo the shoot again...or always shoot in RAW if you have the time to deal with the larger files later...

I've had a real mixture of formats requested over the years and various mags that I've snapped for in the past...