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What is a good pixel to inch ratio for printing digital photos?

When I print a photo (say 3×5" or 4×8") what resolution should the photo be in (for optimal image quality)?

For optimal image quality 300ppi (pixels per inch) will be best for most printing processes and the size you are printing at.

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The dots are here http://www.shortcourses.com/display/display2-1.html .

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 6:49 pm and is filed under print digital photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “What is a good pixel to inch ratio for printing digital photos?”

  1. Absolutely 300 dpi
    References :

  2. Fashion Photography on October 7th, 2009 at 12:30 am

    As mentioned 300 dpi.
    References :
    http://www.nick-vidler.com/

  3. Dots Per Inch have nothing what so ever to do with digital printing.

    For one thing, where are the "dots"..?

    Read this..

    http://www.rideau-info.com/photos/index.html

    Pay close attention especially to - The Myth of DPI…

    Now, to answer your question.. You want 200 PIXELS minimum for each inch of print you want to make. Anything less and the image looks pixely and any thing more, well you just have a larger file..

    A 3×5 needs 600×1000 PIXELS..

    A 4×6 needs 800×1200 PIXELS..

    A 8×10 needs 1600×2000 PIXELS..

    Nowhere here are their any DPI’s..! And, the DPI setting can be 10 or 1000, don’t matter..

    Try this, if DPI makes images larger or smaller, change the DPI setting in your camera. Change nothing else and take a couple images. Now, what happened..? Nothing happens to your image size. Now why is this?

    I can set my camera to 3000×2000 pixels and shoot at 72 DPI or 300 DPI, and the image’s are identical. Both print as anything I want, as far as size goes. Now, if DPI is so dang fireball important, why doesn’t it change size in the camera..?

    To change image size in the camera I have to go into the menu where I change - PIXEL SIZE…!

    In most image editing programs, the lil window that says DPI is connected with the process of changing pixel size. As you run the so called DPI scale up and down, the computer is actually changing the pixel count up or down. You need to work in digital only, and leave all settings on PIXELS. There are no dots.. in a digital image, and what you see as dots sometimes is actually pixels but the two are NOT the same nor related.

    Read - http://www.rideau-info.com/photos/mythdpi.html - and become wiser and able to make better prints.

    Bob - Tucson
    References :

  4. namedeletedbyrequest on October 7th, 2009 at 1:00 am

    For optimal image quality 300ppi (pixels per inch) will be best for most printing processes and the size you are printing at.

    —

    The dots are here http://www.shortcourses.com/display/display2-1.html .
    References :
    The pixels are here http://www.shortcourses.com/sensors/

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