Magazine print resolution is on the lower end of 266dpi for cheap publications and up to 350dpi for fine art books. 300dpi is typical for most popular consumer magazines.
My digital camera back has a preview screen at 290dpi. It is essentially print quality. I can’t see the pixels anymore than a magazine image. I use a magnifier lupe to judge density and only then do I see pixels, just like putting a magnifier on a magazine.
But that is a far cry from my fine art giclee printers at 2700dpi. These are considered “Continuous Tone” resolution (ConTone). One is hard pressed to see any pixellation on those prints even with a very powerful lupe.
So why go so high resolution if 266dpi is all one really needs? Well, although the dots might be there, higher resolutions are much better at blending colors and pulling details from deep shadows and bright highlights. The “depth” of a 2700dpi image is outstanding compared to a 300dpi image. The shadows don’t block up and the highlights don’t clip to white as easily.
Another consideration is the number of colors we’re working with. My giclee printers are 12 different colors. RGB monitors are 3 colors. You might imagine there would be considerable differences in color accuracy and nuances of tonalities… and you’d be right.
Interesting to see some new TV’s advertise extra colors in their pixels recently. I’d bet we’ll see more of that to come. We’ll also see liquid lens technology, where Phillips has demonstrated changing the shape of nano water droplets into different lens shapes simply by applying electricity at certain pulsations. So two side by side pixels will be capable of being different shapes, thereby increasing defocused bokeh smoothness in contrast to sharp lines, and effectively bringing about a more realistic three dimensional appearance.
The big problem is that optical lenses have not been able to keep pace with output technology or chip capture capabilities. The traditional glass lens is still the first line of bending light onto a chip, and even the best Zeiss, Leica, Nikon, and Canon L lenses have great difficulty drawing light sharp enough for the real quality that input/put can handle.
Nikon shows great promise with their new nanocrystal lens technologies though. That’s some pretty fab new glass.