I have a JVC-GRDV500U camcorder that does pics at 1.33MP. I would like to print (have printed) quality pics at 4x6". What is the best resolution settings? Resolutions of the camera are: 1600x1200, 1280x960, 1024x768 and 640x480; standard and fine quality. Results taken at 1600x1200 appear grainy/somewhat washed when viewed on the computer. 640x480 look best but is this a desirable resolution for 4x6" prints? Thank you for your time and support. Radunn
1600 X 1200, 1280 X 1024, etc are resolutions for monitors. Do not get confused with printer resolutions which are done at DPI's. Most photos print perfectly at 72 DPI's, the only reason you would need to up thats resolution is if you have massive amounts of fine detail. Nothing prints over 600 DPI, no matter what your led to believe. Anything higher then that is for shadowing only. The best resolution to take a photo at is 1600 X 1200 or RAW mode if you have that option. ALways save as a TIFF or a MRW to retain total control over your photo. When you get ready to print, change the print image / image size to print at 72 DPI. The best thing to do, is to take a favorite photo of yours and print it out at different settings. You will see the difference, plus printing at 72 DPI saves your ink tremendously. Printing a photo at 1600 dPI will not only use 5 times the amount of ink required but will at times confuse your system and wont print properly (hence your "Grainy image_ Good luck.
One more item too, for a 4 X 6 image the optimum file size should be 4 to 5 MB , a 5 X 7 = 7 - 10 MB and a 8 X 10 = 13 - 20 MB in TIFF formats, Take your phot at RAW setting or the highest setting you have, and adjust your image size in your photo software to accomodate the size you need, a tech. hint, only adjust image size %10 at a time to reduce fuzziness and pixel repeats. Using a scanner on photos is not the same either, thier resolutions are totally different. Just in case you use a scanner too.
I comprehend what you have stated. As previously stated resolutions of the camera are: 1600x1200, 1280x960, 1024x768 and 640x480; standard and fine quality. These are the options for taking the pic. You say that 72dpi is fine for prints. Others say 200 (minimum) to 300 DPI is required for prints...? I take pics at this resolution that look more pixely than the same pic at 640x480 when viewed on the PC. Correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding for the print resolution say at 72 DPI would be to multiply the desired print size of say 4x6" as 4x72 and 6x72 which results to 288x432 at 72.DPI. If 300 DPI is desired then based on the above formula that result is 1200x1800. This is where my confusion is because the initial pic is 1600x1200. Can you help me out? Thanks
The formula your stating is used for resolutions for scanners, not photos. 300 DPI/PPI is base for photos, but that is resolution size, not printing size, again, 300 DPI/PPI formula you would use to figure out the size you need to shoot the picture at, not the setting you need to print the picture at. There are 3 different formulas for photos to use. Scanner Resolution, Photo Resolution and Printer Resolution. If you want, check out my website, posted below. You'll find my email, drop me a line and I'll send you an excerpt about how to figure all this out. Call it a nice little photo cheat sheet. I was totally frustrated too until I found this sheet. It help me greatly , plus I saved a whole heck of a lot of ink when printing.
Radunn, I sent the email, but it came back as undeliverable. I re sent a different email to verify if you got it or not, let me know.
I sent the file again without the attachment, it hasnt come back yet so Im resending it as a zipped file instaed of pdf, maybe that was the reason it wouldnt go thru.
