User:PantheraLeo1359531/Argumente für kleine Bilder

There are sometimes discussions whether smaller or larger images are more useful. In short, this depends on the application. This page is dedicated to the arguments for smaller images.

1. It does not always have to be the highest resolution

Showing images is often important, but it doesn't always have to be the full pixel count image. Wikipedia articles are a good example. Here thumbnails of works are used, because a larger image is not needed on the page. If you want to have a closer look at the image, you can always click on it.

2. More pixels do not automatically mean more details

Sometimes it is wrongly assumed that more pixels automatically mean better quality. This is not always correct in general. Smartphones with 50 or even 108 megapixels have been available for about 2-3 years. If you were to go purely by the number of megapixels, cell phone cameras would have to outshine almost all DSLMs and DSLRs. But that is not the case. Sensor size and sensor type also play a role. More light falls on a larger sensor, so more details can be visible in darker areas, for example, which cell phone camera sensors tend to do less of. Cell phone camera sensors are usually a maximum of one inch in size, APS-C or full-frame sensors are larger. A 108-megapixel photo from a cell phone camera can usually be reduced to 12 or 24 megapixels, (almost) without loss of detail. So a smaller photo makes sense here.

3. The workflow is faster

Processing larger images requires more processing power, the editing process takes longer, and you may need stronger computer hardware. Uploading larger files also takes longer. The server-side generation of thumbnails of large images also takes longer, in extreme cases this even fails, depending on the server.