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Can someone explain the advantages or disadvantages of 300 dpi vs 180 dpi. Also, should I shoot macro on raw setting or is large just as good.

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Pam Teague

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DPI is a number that refers to print size and resolution. For good quality prints, generally, 300 DPI is a standard resolution.

Example: 8 x 10 print = 2400 x 3000 pixels at 300 DPI. The same 8 x 10 print at 180 DPI would be 1440 x 1800 pixels. 2400 x 3000 is a much higher resolution than 1440 x 1800.

For displaying photos on a computer monitor 72 - 100 DPI is adequate because that is all a typical monitor can display anyway. 300 DPI and 72 DPI will look the same on a monitor. Also, file sizes are affected as well. There is no point in uploading or emailing a photo at 300 DPI when it can be displayed just as well at 72 DPI with a much smaller file size.

RAW is an uncompressed file format, while .jpg Large is compressed to save file size. The advantage of RAW is that is saves your original shot uncompressed and unaltered. You have to convert your RAW image to jpg or tif in order to view or print it anyway, so it doesn't really matter much in the long run. It sort of depends on how much post-processing you are going to do with the image. Working with RAW is another subject in and of itself.

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Thank you for clearing that up for me. I actually went and bought a book today so that I can figure this thing out.

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Pam Teague

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I think many people confuse DPI with PPI. DPI does not equal PPI. Dots per inch, is an entirely different thing then Pixels per Inch. Many people seem to not understand this, the previous post states DPI, when in fact, they are talking about PPI.

"Dots per inch (DPI) is a measure of printing resolution, in particular the number of individual dots of ink a printer or toner can produce within a linear one-inch space."

"Pixels per inch (PPI) or pixel density is a measurement of the resolution of a computer display, related to the size of the display in inches and the total number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions. This measurement is often referred to as dots per inch, though that measurement more accurately refers to the resolution of a computer printer. PPI may also be used to describe the resolution of an image scanner or digital camera; in this context, it is synonymous with samples per inch."

Regardless of what other might say, these two terms are not interchangable.

~Can8dnSix

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now youv got me confused...when I use my scanning software (not for photos but for work-related documents) you can change the DPI, but nowhere is there any mention of PPI

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