PowerShot SX20 IS - What setting for the best resolution of my photos for printing?

[M3l1ndaT3ns]

I want to photograph a lot of my customer's art. What should I set the image size to to get the best prints?  It's an SX20IS.

[Waddizzle]

The best resolution to use for capturing photos should almost always be the highest resolution of your image capture device, which in your case means a camera.  

I recommend that you shoot RAW for the best results.  However, consumer cameras are terrible when it comes to “scanning” or “digitizing” a printed image.  They simply lack the resolution.

[M3l1ndaT3ns]

What is RAW?

[Tronhard]

I recommend you check out the article at THIS LINK.  Of particular note is the section: What is a RAW file?  The challenge is that printing is not just a matter of shooting an image and sending it off to a printer.  Creating a decent print requires some work on a computer afterwards: Post Processing and this is a somewhat different skill from that of taking the image in the first place.

Much depends on what size prints you are hoping to create - do you have some idea of what that would be?  Is there a particular purpose for printing: family photos, photos for some kind of show, to compete, etc?  

[M3l1ndaT3ns]

Thank you so very much. What an excellent, well written article. So very easy to understand!