rebel XT DPI question

nomav6 · Aug 31, 2006

whats up, not sure if this is the right place, but I've been shooting for some time now, and now I'm stepping into stuff on a much larger scale and I'm wondering if my camera can do it, I have the canon eos xt, and everything I shoot is at 72dpi, and I was wondering if thats the most that it can do, cause I really need around 300dpi or so, or do I need to step up my camera? if so will the 20D be able to do 300dpi?

tempra · Aug 31, 2006

Shoot in RAW and when you convert to tiff, save them at 300 dpi. I think the default resolution for large jpeg is 180 dpi (at least it is on my 10D)

72 dpi is web resolution, so if you are saving them for web use in photoshop, it will save them at 72 dpi, use the save as function instead.

nomav6 · Aug 31, 2006

thanks, I'll try shooting in raw tonight, but I wont have photoshop to use on my laptop, but I will have the GIMP.

tempra · Aug 31, 2006

Gimp won't be able to convert the RAW images, you will have to use zoombrowser or install rawshooter essentials to be able to convert them.

Actually, thinking about it, using Gimp might be the reason that all your pics are at 72dpi, but I'm not sure of that, it's been about 5 years since I last used it.

ksmattfish · Aug 31, 2006

Don't worry about dpi; it's just scale for printing. Resolution is what is important, and the Rebel XT and 20D have the same resolution.

Divide resolution by dpi and you get print size. You can change dpi in most graphic editors without resampling the image, but if you are having a lab print your photos just let them worry about it.

nomav6 · Aug 31, 2006

ksmattfish said:
Don't worry about dpi; it's just scale for printing. Resolution is what is important, and the Rebel XT and 20D have the same resolution.

Divide resolution by dpi and you get print size. You can change dpi in most graphic editors without resampling the image, but if you are having a lab print your photos just let them worry about it.

I print all my stuff, and its not gimp that I'm having a problem with, my main computer has CS2 on it, but I'll have to test everything out tomorrow, just got in from shooting and its time for bed

thanks for all the advise.

Sw1tchFX · Sep 1, 2006

all you need to do is to go into photoshop, resize image, uncheck resample image, and select what DPI you want. I often do this with my D70 beucase the images nativly come out at 300dpi.

nomav6 · Sep 4, 2006

I've tried everything and I'm still only getting 72dpi, at 32x48 and when I print a 32X48 it looks like crap.

LWW · Sep 4, 2006

72 DPI at 32 X 48 = 300 DPI at roughly 7.5 X 11.5. Simply resize the photo.

LWW

Unimaxium · Sep 4, 2006

You shouldn't really print stuff at 72dpi. 72dpi is a general resolution for viewing on a computer monitor, while 300dpi is better for printing. If you want to print a 32x48 inch photo, you'd need an image resolution of 14400x9600 pixels to print at 300dpi, or approx. 138megapixels. You'd need to move up to large format digital for that. That's why your photos don't look good when you print them that large.

nomav6 · Sep 5, 2006

cool, I was wondering if it could do 300dpi at a large size photo, sorry if I wasn't to clear on it, because 7.5X11.5 isn't gonna work

Thanks

LWW · Sep 5, 2006

If you take your file into PS and double it's MB size and then print at 200 DPI you should get a pretty good photo at any distance from arm's length on out.

LWW

Alex_B · Sep 5, 2006

why are you all talking about dpi? just think in pixel-resolution, that is what matters. dpi only has a meaning when it comes together with a given image print size.

Anyway, if something does not look nice if you print large, that is not always a problem of pixel-resolution, but it could be noise (can be reduced with proper software), or simply a lens which cannot give the proper resolution.

Anyway, if you want to print large, and you have a too small pixel-resolution and some noise in the image, use software to upscale and reduce noise. For upscaling in photoshop i was told the best is to go 20% above the desired resolution, then sharpen, and then reduce to the resolution you need.
for the noise i recommend neatimage or noise ninja (personally I prefer neatimage).