Do I need to resize my photos in PC before syncing with iPad?

[bat0nas]

Hi,
My photos are big (12MP) and iPad screen is just 1024px. There's no sense uploading full sized pics.

I've noticed that iTunes does some "optimizing" before uploading photos to my iPad. Do I understand correctly that iTunes is resizing them and optimizing for iPad.

Or should I downsize by myself all my photos to 1600px width before syncing?