Another Resolution Question

Dan wrote:
> All,
>
> If I am going to upload my pictures to a place like ofoto or
> walmart.com and want 4x6 prints, what is the best resolution they can
> handle? In other words, at what point is it "as clear as it's going to
> get"? I assume they cannot squeeze 7.1mp into a 4x6" print..
>
> Thanks,
> Dan

Hi Dan,

It's important to realise that your screen resolution (or the
resolution of your digital image) in pixels per inch is not really the
same thing as a printers dots per inch (or DPI) rating. A few years
back I used to stick to about 1/3 the resolution (in pixels per inch)
of my printer (in DPI). Thus if I was printing 600 DPI, I'd use a 200
PPI image. Now a days you may want to increase that factor a little
more but as per some of the other suggestions here, I generally find
that 300 dpi is more than enough (thus even if I am using a 1200DPI
printer, I do not necessarily find it necessary to use an image that is
600DPI). I'm not sure Walmart will have the info available, but you
may want to find out what DPI their printer uses. That being said, DPI
also does not necessarily give you an indication of how the image will
look (dye sub vs inkjet for example - dye sub can often have lower DPI
but produce a better looking image than a higher resolution inkjet).

Bates....
 >> Stay informed about: Another Resolution Question 

> If I am going to upload my pictures to a place like ofoto or
> walmart.com and want 4x6 prints, what is the best resolution they can
> handle? In other words, at what point is it "as clear as it's going to
> get"? I assume they cannot squeeze 7.1mp into a 4x6" print..
>

Probably they will use 300 ppi for their print.
So you could reduce your image to (4x300) x (6x300), so you still
have controle over the process and send a 1200 x 1800 pixels
picture.

But do this for you if you send or upload teh 7.1 pixels.
So you have the choice, you throw away part of the information,
or let them throw away part of the information.

(Lazy mode let them do it, you need more bandwidth.)
(Active mode you do the downscalling, more control and less bandwidth).

ben




> Thanks,
> Dan
>
 >> Stay informed about: Another Resolution Question 

Dan wrote:
>
> If I am going to upload my pictures to a place like ofoto or
> walmart.com and want 4x6 prints, what is the best resolution they can
> handle? In other words, at what point is it "as clear as it's going to
> get"? I assume they cannot squeeze 7.1mp into a 4x6" print..
>

I don't know about those particular places but the print service I use
also stores the pictures so you can view and retrieve them in the
future. I consider them to be an online backup, in case of a disaster
at home I can at least get back the pictures I considered worth
printing. For that reason it is worth uploading the original
resolution.
 >> Stay informed about: Another Resolution Question 

Dan wrote:

> If I am going to upload my pictures to a place like ofoto or
> walmart.com and want 4x6 prints, what is the best resolution they can
> handle? In other words, at what point is it "as clear as it's going
> to get"? I assume they cannot squeeze 7.1mp into a 4x6" print..

They can squeeze it in, or rather, interpolate downwards, but for 4x6 you
don't need more than 1200 x 1800 pixels, which is 2.2MP.

Paul
 >> Stay informed about: Another Resolution Question 

Greetings Dan,

The more information you have in the file the better off you are in terms of
printing. So, if you have a large file send it on. For reference, you can
liken the number of pixels in an image to the grain in a traditional
negative. Making a 4x6 print from a 4x6 negative yields a great print. A
large file in digital will do a similar job.

Ron Baird




"Dan" <dan_hoffard RemoveThis @hailmail.net> wrote in message
news:1159031208.837049.130360@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> All,
>
> If I am going to upload my pictures to a place like ofoto or
> walmart.com and want 4x6 prints, what is the best resolution they can
> handle? In other words, at what point is it "as clear as it's going to
> get"? I assume they cannot squeeze 7.1mp into a 4x6" print..
>
> Thanks,
> Dan
>
 >> Stay informed about: Another Resolution Question