I had a quick google search and didn't find anything definitive, but maybe someone here can tell me off the top of their head with the resolution roadside billboards might be printed at? I'm guessing it's pretty low around the 50 to 100 dpi area but any help from people in the know would be appreciated. I have a prospective client who wants some images for a billboard and wants to know the maximum size my cameras will print to.

TIA

Extremely low. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 ppi is not at all uncommon.

The dots are huge, the viewer's far away, you don't need a lot of pixels.

Yes, I just stumbled upon a table based on viewing distance. 10 was about right. Thanks Colin.

Talk to your billboard printer. The ones I've done ranged from 18 - 30 dpi at final print size, depending on the vendor. Do your computations based on 20-30 and you'll be fine. There are also several standard board sizes and if your client is not buying the largest signs, that may make your life a little easier as well.

Thanks Peter.

If you're wanting this information in order to determine the resolution of images your'e providing for a billboard...forget it. You don't need it for digital any more than you needed it for film. Give them the same product a film photographer would give them.

You want to give them an image that when printed to paper at a normal hand-holdable size is sharp viewed from reading distance: An 8x10 (or 9x12) at 300 ppi. If it looks sharp in your hand, it will look sharp on the billboard. You don't need to know what the billboard printer is doing.

Here's a good tutorial explaining the perceptual cause and effect of resolution and viewing distance:
http://www.signindustry.com/outdoor/articles/2001-03-19-viewingDistance.php3.

Thanks guys. No I was asking because the client asked me how big my files would print for a billboard.

Steverock01 wrote:
Thanks guys. No I was asking because the client asked me how big my files would print for a billboard.

As I said, an image that is sharp and detailed at 8x10 or 9x12 at 300 ppi will be sharp and detailed on a billboard.

That's what photographers did before digital--the rest of the process hasn't changed.