DPI Myth
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- studderine
I just read this little article and I think I am confused...so what this is saying is DPI has nothing to do with quality and "the use of DPI is a method to determine the size of output on paper". This means that my print files don't have to be 300 dpi? what?
- thedriver0
Send all your files out at 10 DPI and see what happens. Then email buddy when you're looking for a new job.
- no no no..i always knew to print files at 300 dpi..but i read this and it confused me.studderine
- I was just taking the piss, see the yellow stain... eew, smelly.thedriver
- why always 300dpi? its just metadata...ribit
- arghh..?!!studderine
- aargh?ribit
- ribit0
well yes dpi is just metadata attached to a file to tell the printer stuff it needs to know about physical print size... It has intrinsically nothing to do with the image quality.
- mumblingmynah0
I think this article over explains things a little bit and ends up being confusing. Your print files should still be in the neighborhood of 300dpi (or double the line screen of the printer), but you want to make sure you don't resample them because that would change the total number of pixels in the image.
- ribit0
'72dpi' is also a myth... there aren't many 72dpi displays around these days... its just a rough standard... but sort of stupid really.
- Llyod0
I think real max dpi is 304 or 312. I forget which it is. Either way printer designers use 300.
- antigirl0
i like to design at 400 dpi for print. and 100-150 dpi for screen. it's overkill, but it's a lot clearer to me.
oh, and everything that goes to print should be a minimum of 300 dpi.
- yes yes! i know this, but i am gonna take a stab and say the article was dead wrong.studderine
- i think he is trying to explain the actual size of the file.studderine
- I think he's trying to explain how a lot of people have weird ideas about dpiribit
- iPhone screen is 160dpi (but then who cares about inches? It's all about pixels)ribit
- ribit0
depends what you are trying to do, how far away the viewer is... 300 dpi isn't necessary on a 10 mile wide banner viewed from 1 mile away.
And it doesn't matter if you have 10dpi set in your file, it only matters what you tell the printer software to do with the file, such as ("print to fill the 10 mile wide piece of paper")
- studderine0
anyone care to give a better explanation...im still doing 300 dpi.
- studderine0
ribit, are you saying if i input a photo into my indesign file that is set at "10dpi" and its 5 x 7 it will print fine? i dont think so..
- I'm talking bitmap images mainly...ribit
- the article is about bitmaps..photos.ribit
- i know....i guess i'll just have to figure it out for myself.studderine
- ribit0
you are doing fine.
but (if we are talking bitmaps here?) you could send a file with no dpi information in it to the printer (just info on how big to print it) and get the same result.
- +1
printer software couldn't care less what you have your files dpi set to
sikma - yes...photos are raster images.studderine
- which is what this guy article is discussingsikma
- +1
- Point50
read to the bottom of the article. Basically this person is just trying to set everyone straight on referring to print resolution as DPI as opposed to the correct term of PPI
- damn me!studderine
- but more importantly he's bringing up the fact that dpi is just metadata attached to an imageribit
- then whats the point?studderine
- what do you mean?ribit
- what would be the point of changing the dpi other than enlarging the image?studderine
- changing the dpi doesn't enlarge the image in itself...ribit
- horton0
what point5 said.. and basically to school any fools who don't know how to resize an image in photoshop.
- Corvo0
afaik more important is the printer's LPI - which must print at least at 150LPI (lines per inch) so that it looks seamless (magazine quality e.g.). Above the 200-something DPI the eye will not see dots but continuous colour. 300 is just a round figure. I never understood how those two relate though - or even how it works. You just know it does.
- GrammarPolice0
Well, considering they're asking people to compare 72dpi and 300dpi pictures ON SCREEN tells you all you need to know about the authors of that page. Fucking idiots.
- studderine0
ok ok i think i understand now
- 5timuli0
If you divide the pixel size of a digital image by the dpi you get the physical print size.
e.g.
3000x2000 px image @ 72dpi = 41.67x27.78 in
3000x2000 px image @ 300dpi = 10x6.67 in
- 5timuli0
DPI does not have any bearing on digital quality, only printed quality.
- yeah!studderine
- It also has no bearing on digital size, only physical print size.5timuli
- A 300dpi image will print approx one quarter the size of a 72dpi image.5timuli
- A Citroen 2CV doing 100 km/h will easily pass a Porsche doing 60 km/hribit
- 5timuli0
Just don't do anything differently from what you have been. If you work in print make sure your files are 300/1200dpi for image/bitmap.
- ComicSans_Rocks0
I print all of my posters at 16 DPI they look great, anything more than 20 DPI is completely overkill except for billboard advertisement I recommend 21 DPI at the max...
- cherub0
thanks 5timuli.
had to read your equation twice, but i got it 2nd time 'round.