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06/05/2003 06:20:04 AM · #1 |
I read somewhere that in order to get the best print of your digital images is to match the resolution of your digital image to the resolution your printer is capable of printing. For example to work out the best size to print a 2000 x 1600 pixel image on a 400dpi printer is to divide 2000 by 400 and 1600 by 400 which would equal 5 x 4 inches. But my question is what if your printer is capable of much higher resolution like 2880 dpi.
What do I do here? I have an epson stylus photo 810 inkjet printer which is capable of this resolution (2880dpi). In the print properties if I select "plain paper" I can set the resolution down to 360 dpi but I have premium photo paper and wish to print on that instead. If I select "premium photo paper" in the printing properties, the lowest I can set it down to is 720dpi and the maximum being 2880. If using the above formula this means I would only get a good quality print at a measley 2.7 x 2.2 inches. Is this correct or does the fact that I'm using premium photo paper accomodate this for larger prints? In which case how would I know the correct resolution/printing size to set to my image before printing?
Any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Hasp
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06/05/2003 06:35:12 AM · #2 |
My understanding of printing is a little vague, but let me share what I do know.
If you have a 2000x1600 pixel image then you should have an image capable of being printed at at least 15cms*10cms @ 300 plus DPI. If you have Photoshop, you can alter the IMAGE size by unticking "resample image" and then simpley entering 15 in the width box. This will then automaticaly tell you how high that picutre will be, and also what resolution it will be.
Then when you print you need to use the options boxes to set DPI to the maximum and use Print Preview to make sure that this has all worked out okay.
I believe this is all acurate advice, but I am happy to be corrected if its wrong.
Shatter
Message edited by author 2003-06-05 06:35:40. |
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06/05/2003 08:30:49 AM · #3 |
The resolution specified for the printer (first number) is a bit confusing as it does not relate to the actual print resolution. It refers to how much detail the printer is capable of producing. The maximum print resolution of the printer is actually around 300 dpi. I believe I got this info from dpreview (and some books) though I am still a bit confused as to how this actually works. I don't know what the second number means. If you do a google search you will probably find several sites that explain this.
I have a printer that is advertised as 4800 x 1200. I print with the image dpi at 300 for maximum quality and the prints come out awesome (like they came from a lab). If your image resolution goes below 150 you will be sacrificing quality.
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06/05/2003 10:55:24 AM · #4 |
capanaioti - what kind of printer do you have?
To answer the question of what the printer's dpi rating means, its my understanding that the first number means that it prints "x" dots per inch across the width of the page, and the second number means x dots per inch down the length of the page.
Message edited by author 2003-06-05 10:56:28.
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06/05/2003 11:30:12 AM · #5 |
Start here and then look around. It's fairly basic, somewhat simplistics, and a little old, but effectively presented.
If your printer claims to be 1440dpi, then generally speaking, you should divide this number by the number of inks. In this example a 6-ink printer gives you 240dpi as a starting point for printing. I say starting point since my reading suggests that you really want to use a dpi which can be evenly divided by your printer's claimed dpi. With a 1440dpi printer, these would be values like 240 or 360.
Inkjets don't put down drops of arbitrary colour, but put many dots of fixed, small size (though some do use variable-size drops to achieve finer final resolution), relying on the limitations of human vision to see particular colours. Ultimately, inkjet printers sacrifice spatial resolution to achieve greater tonal/colour range, but as ink drops get smaller the sacrifice does too.
You'll probably be okay just printing in the 240 to 360 range. Ignore (for the most part) the printer's claimed resolution as it's extremely misleading.
Some software will make all this stupidity transparent. |
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06/05/2003 11:17:06 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by mcrael:
capanaioti - what kind of printer do you have? |
Canon i950.
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06/07/2003 04:26:06 AM · #7 |
Great, thanks everyone for making this a little clearer. I'll set my images to 300 - 360dpi and see how I go.
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06/10/2003 05:37:24 PM · #8 |
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