Digital Camera's & Printing

Today, digital camera's all capture at 72 dpi (which is the resolution that your monitor outputs) "dpi" means Dot's Per Inch.

Actually, there is no such thing as a "dot". Even on your computer screen there is no such thing as a "dot".

Screen = pixels (ppi pixels per inch)

Print = lpi (lines per inch)

This is all relatively confusing, and abstract - let's just say the "dot" thing is kinda stupid. But it's a happy medium and I like it.

When you purchased your digital camera, you were wowed by the advertised 3 MEGA PIXEL. Which means that each photo you take can contain up to 3 million pixels. So that means that your photo will end up being be about 1730 pixels by 1730 pixels (1730x1730 = 3,000,000) So. if you were interested in submitting your photo to National Geographic (at 300 "dpi" aka "ppi") you can submit a photo which is 5.75 inches by 5.75 inches (which roughly equivilant to the size of a traditional 4x6 photo)

Now some camera's have the option of saving the captured images to a couple of format's - namely: TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) or JPG (Joint Photographers Group - i think?)

TIFF files tends to retain more "information" but JPG files are really great. (TIFF = no compression, whereas JPG = compression) Bottom line, use JPG, but ensure that you maximize the size of the photo's. (i.e. use the highest resolution possible)

I think TIFF sucks because it uses a lot of "space" (MB's) and the difference in quality is simply not worth it. For example, a tiff file at 800x600 will cost you about 1.5 megs, whereas a JPG will cost about 200 k - (the JPG is set to the highest setting !) -- your eye will not see a difference in quality between the two.

A number of years ago i conducted tests on the quality settings for JPG images and determined that a JPG set to "7" (in Adobe Photoshop - roughly 75% in other imaging editing software) rendered acceptable quality for high volume printing) TIFF is a pretty old format, whereas JPG was developed at a later time in history (uhh let's just say better technology.)

With Print - It's all about where/how you plan to print the images, and where/how they will be viewed.

Now some theorists in the print world have concluded that 225 dpi is an acceptable resolution for high volume printed material - this "resolution" maintains a relatively high quality through extravagant mathematical deductions and high-level calculus. I have to concur that after viewing the images printed from 225 dpi images, the quality was acceptable.

With today's home printer (the bubble/ink-jet kinds) one may even be able to get away with a resolution as low as 150 dpi. However, any resolution (dpi) lower than 150 dpi, your eye will start to see "pixelization" in the print (or - little squares will become evident). And if your decide that you will go with 150 dpi, ensure that your printer is set to the highest quality, and that you are using a high quality "glossy" paper. I have had success with the "brochure" or "business flyer" type paper... which is really nice - Since, you can print on either side of the paper - and not have to worry about putting the paper into the printer with the "proper print side up" - what's more... the quality is great - and it's the cheapest high quality paper !

Now here is a bit of information which will ensure that you maintain the best possible quality for you images when they are printed.

Since digital camera's capture your image at 72 ppi (pixels per inch) and the lowest acceptable printing resolution is 150 dpi (dots per inch - don't forget that pixels and dots are pretty much the same thing) What you see on your computer screen will print out at about 1/2 the size on your screen. (that is if the image on your screen is viewed at 100%)

For "pretty good" quality, set your photo to 150 dpi at about 12 inches by 8 inches. Usually, your image editing software will adjust the image size accordingly, so just stay focused on ensuring that the image is set to 150 dpi. This means that your 3 MEGA PIXEL camera can print out photo's at an amazing 8x12 inch image !

For "decent" quality set your images to 225 dpi. As mentioned above, your images editing software should adjust the size of the image accordingly. Of course your image will be a tad small, it will print out at about 8x5 inches (which isn't so bad !)

For National Geographic quality set your image to 300 dpi. Again your software should resize the photo accordingly - and the image size will reduce to about 6x4 inches.

I currently own a Sony Cyber-Shot 3.3 mega pixel camera... It it a great camera, and i highly recommend it... however, the only drawback is that when i click the "take picture" button, it takes about a second before the camera actually, snaps the photo... this delay is kinda wierd - sometimes i miss the action. Other wise the quality is outstanding.