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PPI

PostPosted: Thu May 31, 2007 10:34 pm
by Pehpsi
G'day, just wondering if i send someone a full size pic (6mp) can the still get a good print out of it if it's set to only 72ppi?

PostPosted: Thu May 31, 2007 11:04 pm
by Nnnnsic
I take it you mean dpi?

A 6mp image is still a 6mp image at either 25.47 cm x 16.93 cm @ 300 dpi or 106.12 cm x 70.56 cm @ 72dpi, it's just the dimensions that are changing.

Go into Image Size in Photoshop, turn Resample Image off and jack the dpi back up to 300 and see how big a print you have.

Mind you, you can usually safely print 72 dpi at large sizes (A1 and larger) because the viewing distance becomes greater.

PostPosted: Thu May 31, 2007 11:17 pm
by Pehpsi
I see.. What's the best way to make sure people can't get a decent print out of a medium/larger file?

PostPosted: Thu May 31, 2007 11:29 pm
by DaveB
Nnnnsic wrote:I take it you mean dpi?

No, I think he means PPI. :)
PPI == Pixels Per Inch
DPI == Dots Per Inch (most printers use multiple dots per pixel)

Unfortunately some software mistakenly still refers to it as dpi (the most recent example I've seen was the Epson Scan software that comes with the V700 scanner).

But apart from that you got everything right. The "resolution" (ppi) setting only affects how large an image will be printed. It doesn't affect the image data itself.

PostPosted: Thu May 31, 2007 11:31 pm
by DaveB
Pehpsi wrote:What's the best way to make sure people can't get a decent print out of a medium/larger file?

Don't give it to them! ;)

PostPosted: Thu May 31, 2007 11:36 pm
by Alpha_7
Pehpsi wrote:I see.. What's the best way to make sure people can't get a decent print out of a medium/larger file?


Don't give it to them, or watermark the images.

PostPosted: Thu May 31, 2007 11:42 pm
by Pehpsi
Ok cool, sounds logical :)

I've noticed Aperture says 'dpi' in the prefs but not sure if they mean 'ppi'.

Anyway thanks for the handy hints :)