Source:www.jimippolito.com

"Resolution" is a word that is very prominent these days.

Pretty much anything that involves imaging, be it a computer monitor, a television, a scanner, a DVD player, an LCD screen on your digital camera or cell phone, a photocopier, or a printer, will have a number revealing the device's resolution.

The most common use of the word, however, is to describe the resolving power of the sensor in digital cameras, which translates into the camera's ability to deliver a sharp image.

So is bigger better when it comes to a camera's resolution?

Usually, but not always, because there are many other factors that affect a camera's final output quality, but it is important.

Today, we are concerned not only with the resolution of digital camera sensors, but with the word resolution itself and how its use is applied to different facets of imaging.

Resolution is used to describe not only a camera's ability to produce clear images but also for other purposes, such as what will be the maximum final print size one can obtain while maintaining a sharp image.

There are many definitions of the word resolution, but for our purposes, this one, taken from Google, says it all:

"Resolution is the measurement of an optical device's ability to produce a sharp image by distinguishing fine detail."

Rather than go into a pages long explanation of the measurement of resolution, and how it is used, please check out this excellent treatise, which will answer every question you ever had about resolution.

I chose today's picture because it is a good example of how resolution "makes" a picture. There are a multitude of details in this shot, and, for a camera with only a 4.3 mega-pixel imager, my Pentax RS430, it's not bad. Bear in mind that this picture, at only 72dpi, for Internet use, is tremendously reduced in resolution.