Exact Sizing
Digital printers have what is called over sizing. Over sizing is a process in which the image being developed onto the photo paper is magnified by a certain percentage to counteract paper shift within the printer. Photographic paper is loaded into the printers in rolls. As the paper travels from the roll through the machine it can drift up to 1/8 of an inch by the time it reaches the lasers that expose the paper with the image. No amount of calibration on the paper path can prevent this drift. A 1/8 of an inch is about half the radius of the pen or pencil on your desk. The over sizing that is applied to each image runs between 1.5% -1.7%; we generally quote the percentage at 2% for a round number to work with. How can you use this information? Well the over sizing is so minimal, that 99% of your orders will not be effected by it. However, in certain instances where you may have images butted up against the outer edge like in a collage, text, or a pin stripe around an image's perimeter, you will want to take this 2% value into consideration. In most cases you can do very simple math to calculate the expected over sizing. Our message is to add the 2% additional space to the perimeter of any potentially affected image. For regular prints, such as an 8x10, the additional leeway you need to provide is 1/16 of an inch in the 8-inch dimension and 1/5 of an inch in the 10-inch dimension. Of course, the larger the print dimensions, the more image space effected by over sizing, thus the more padding that is needed.
