Hi everyone. I have a question, and in attempt to escape my shell, I'll post it here. To those of you who have uploaded images to the Digital Print Marketplace: I've studied the guidelines for image prep, and it's all pretty straighforward = file must be 2800x3400 which includes the space for the bleed. great. okay, about the resolution... 100 dpi? really? (note: while I was typing this, Clint from the marketplace contacted me regarding this, and says, yes, indeed, quality prints from 100 dpi.... hmmph, technology - just can't keep up!). thanks in advance, Jerry

I am not much of a tech on this sort of thing. But here is what works for me, I use 300 DPI for my final images. I never re sample and if I scan from negs or slides I scan at 2700 dpi, the max for my scanner, then change to 300 dpi to work with. Again with my flat bed, I will scan at a dpi that when changed to 300 gives me an image size I can work with. I have an A4 1440 printer and get very good results working like this. I think if I printed at 100 dpi the quality would not be very good, perhaps they have a wizz printer and not an ink jet? It would be interesting to know how other people work as I have 24mb single layer files which get a bit heavy when I have 8 or 10 layers on the go. :O)

I dont really know too much about other print quality, but at college we just used Epson ink jets, and I scanned images in at mostly 400 - 600 dpi... and didnt usually change down too often. Quality was always good, but the printers are for graphics work so it had to be... I was kinda wondering about those prints myself. Thinking about loading up when I have the time =) xXxXx

What I don't understand is, the very lowest you can do for real printing is 300 dpi. Anything from 600dpi and up starts looking better. For pro inkjets 300 dpi is enough to get a nice print, up to a certian size. But I wonder how on earth they could use 100dpi max equipment for fine art prints is beyond me.

Thanks for the replies everyone! With inkjets, I get more than acceptable prints with the quadtone inks and my 1270 at anywhere from 250 to 360dpi (or with photoshop really its ppi). I try to get 300dpi but sometimes with a crop or what have you it's not possible. has anyone noticed much difference with inkjets when printing at over 300 dpi (i have not)? I've also res'd up files using other software: genuine fractals and Qimage, and they both work very well for larger sizes like 13x19. (I prefer Qimage) That's why I was so puzzled at the 100dpi specs with the r'osity prints. but when you look at the pixel dimensions, it scales down close, at least at 11 x 14. I bet they have a program similar to genuine fractals, if indeed that's not what they use. also, if they use anything like the kodak LED print process, I can see how they get such good results (i did some reading this afternoon!) I just received a 16x20 from ofoto (using the kodak LED method) today that i had printed as a test, and the file size was actually only set at 240dpi, and that was after res'ing it up in photoshop. The results were stunning considering the file they had to work with. so, yes, the 100dpi at 2800x3400 should work pretty well, and in cmyk, it produces about a 34meg. file... thanks again!

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12366&Form.ShowMessage=822742

This might help, check out #10 & #16.

Attached Link: http://www.ofoto.com/HelpAboutPrints.jsp?UV=724640949522_97313172105&US=0

Thanks for the link Bevichron! it just takes a second to realize that different printing technologies take different specs to achieve a quality print. With digital, especially photography, resolution has been such a confusing issue to come to terms with. We've had it drilled into our heads so much that you need at least 250dpi for a good inkjet print, and so on, so that seeing such a large size final output from from only 100dpi seemed, well, strange =). For any doubters, really look at some of the online photofinishing sites that offer print sizes larger than 11x14, and see what the file requirements are, and also look and see what kind of printer they use. The 16x20 I received today is amazing. I could never had got this print quality even at 11x14 or 13x19 on my epson, not with the file size i used. These printers know their stuff, and like Clint pointed out to me: check the reviews out on the r'ostiy front page. I did a little research into LED digital printing, and it helped me feel a bit more at ease with the 100dpi thing. Not to say that renderosity is using that particular process, but it shows that the 300dpi rule does not necessarily apply across the board. check the link below and look at the required file sizes... Thanks again everyone who responded! take care.

Don't believe everything you read in that link. A RIP can only do so much with a 100dpi document. And you're completely right , Jharzard, 250dpi is the minimum. Besides, RIPs are made for doing graphic work, or in other words pages that have mostly text, not photo printing. I mean, a 100 dpi inkjet print looks even better than a 100dpi raster print.