*rant* why I hate digital...

Don't worry, I love digital, too. But this is just why I hate it.

Digital cameras have screwed up the line in the sand that used to separate professionals and amateurs. This is wonderful and disasterous at the same time. It's great if you are a semi-pro who knows that your camera is nice - but not the world champ Nikon D1X with a $30,000 lens. Disasterous if you are like the 95% of the people who are buying cameras now at a record pace and have *no idea* that they don't have the king cheese camera in their fanny pack just because they dropped a cool hundred on a new camera. They think a picture is a picture and 72 dpi "is plenty" for a really good professional grade photograph. Not the case, granny!

If someone ever asks you for high-resolution digital artwork, as in a prepress or a printing company, *PLEASE* don't just give them a big fat ass .jpg. I've been repeating that for 6 friggin' months with this particular lady, and she still gives me lousy .jpgs and spends 65 bucks a pop to have me enlarge it to poster size, then she proclaims ecstatically: "why is it so blurry?"

My plea? Take the time to save enough money so you don't buy a cracker-jack ass camera. If it looks like *too good* of a deal - "a low, low price of $xx.xx" - it's probably *too good* of a deal to have good quality components and achieve professional-grade results...

anyway, that's my rant. take it or leave it. I feel better!

I'm totally new to the Digital Photography scene. I took my time and looked at reviews of cameras in my price range and ended up getting the Canon Powershot S30 (still hasn't arrived in the mail). I feel that it is a good camera for someone starting out and even for a semi-pro. What makes me different from these other people is that I want to , someday, make professional qualiy images. Not just take pictures of "granny" at the family reunion :D

Hey graphics guy (or anyone). What resolution do you print at for poster size? I have a nikon coolpix 885... it is 3.2 megapixels, so it takes 2048x1536 pics at 72 dpi... which comes out to be like... 28 inches x 21, or so. Would that come out blurry, if i printed it at 28x21 at 72 dpi? Since there would be no enlarging or anything... Or is it a must to print things at 300 dpi? Ok, well thanks in advance.

at 72 dpi, yes, it'll probably be blurry. i've done 36" x 48" posters at 150 dpi and they look great, you might even be able to to go a bit lower than that. once you get down to 11" x 17" or so you'll need to start increasing resolution again, i did some quickie posters at 150 dpi at 11" x 17" and they looked ok but definitely could've been sharper.

chris

A 3.x mega pixel dig camera is only good for about an 8X10 "photo" quality--or at least something like it. Anything above that will start to blur. Maybe not perceptable in itty-bitty steps, but it is degrading the quality none-the-less.

g-guy: I read an interesting book on photography recently. To paraphrase, the author basically said that even a blind squirrel can find a nut occassionally (anyone can get lucky and shoot a beautiful shot). But the difference for a professional is that they understand lighting, framing, subject, exposure, etc., and they can shoot good photographs time and again. They don't miss those opportunities because they're prepared, and know exactly what settings to shoot at to change a snap-shot into art.

Hey malibu - PM me with more info on that book, eh? thanks man.

GiottoFace, Fig is right. You really should never print anything at 72 dpi. That's exclusively for display purposes, not print.

The main thing to consider in the printing industry is viewing distance. You'd be amazed at how low of a resolution billboards are printed at. (my most recent one was printed at 9 dpi) - Fig's 150 dpi number is probably great for anything 8x10 to 22x28 - provided your viewer isn't going to hand-hold the print. That's when your 300 - 1440 dpi prints look great.

thanks everyone!

when are people going to realize the difference beetween dpi and ppi?

use 72 ppi for display

for printing u need to start with at least a 300 ppi pic for good results


for an 8x10 u need at lease a 3 mp camera for decent results, this will be enough to enlarge it to 8x10 for printing but higher is preferable

you can print a 72 dpi pic at 2800dpi and have it look ok, but not great