Dpi Question

[Smalerbi]

Hello All,

I have a question about dpi. I have a client that requesting an image spec as follows: A2/600dpi. 600dpi is self explanatory but does anyone know what
A2 is? Also, how do I render an image to 600dpi? This sounds like overkill and not doable. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Scott

[YoyoBoy]

A2 is paper size. According to this chart it's 23.4 x 16.5 in (594 x 420 mm) So the image you send him should be 14,040 x 9,900 pixels. I'd render it half that and scale it up in Photoshop. Clients usually have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to that sort of thing.

[Undersky]

I once had a client who wondered if my 1080 frames wasn't full quality, since they were only 72 DPI and not 300 =P Yeah, for an animation.

[Franx]

Once had a request for a render of a 8' x 16' construction site panel at 300 dpi...

[rfellers]

My general response when a client asks for a image at 300dpi is...

I need to know how many miles it is from New York to Chicago and you just told me 55mph.

There is so much confusion out there about dpi and resolution and realistic expectations of resolution. Not sure where clients got the idea that 300dpi=high quality, but that is what they all ask for.

[Morne]

We OFTEN get requests from the "professional printer" of the client, to send 300dpi images for 18meter billboards

[Smalerbi]

Thanks everyone for your input. I understand the industry standard for desktop publishing is 240 to 300dpi but I would be curious if you printed two images one that was 600dpi and the other at 300dpi on the A2 paper size and placed them side by side, if you could really tell the difference without using a loop. I think the person who specified the 600dpi must have been doing some serious drinking when they came up with that silliness.

Scott

[glorybound]

Unless you plan on enlarging it, I think it would be a waste. Check out PhotoZoom, I use it all the time, and it's a major time saver.

Thanks everyone for your input. I understand the industry standard for desktop publishing is 240 to 300dpi but I would be curious if you printed two images one that was 600dpi and the other at 300dpi on the A2 paper size and placed them side by side, if you could really tell the difference without using a loop. I think the person who specified the 600dpi must have been doing some serious drinking when they came up with that silliness.

Scott

[Smalerbi]

Unless you plan on enlarging it, I think it would be a waste. Check out PhotoZoom, I use it all the time, and it's a major time saver.

Thanks......I will take a look. I guess you can never have enough tools in the toolbox.

Scott.

[glorybound]

I am proof of that!

Thanks......I will take a look. I guess you can never have enough tools in the toolbox.

Scott.

[Markus]

Yes, this dpi discussion is a pain in the ***. I remember this client who want me to give an offer for a 10 meter banner. I told him that if we aim for something around 50-100dpi we should OK. Then his "expert" from the print shop recommended to go for at least 600dpi, as they always print their brochures in 600dpi and if he really is aiming for highquality he should ask for an offer for 1200dpi...

That was the point where I stepped out

[Neilg]

Man alive, I cant tell if some of you guys are doing this on purpose or not.

Even if you render at 50dpi, they still print it at 300 or 600. They're talking dpi. it's DOTS per inch, not pixels.

Scale up your images to 300 dpi at the end and so long as they wont look blurry everyone is happy. They don't care nor understand that you're rendering at 50 or whatever and you already know they don't understand what they're talking about it, arguing with them and telling them you're actually doing it 10x smaller is just going to scare them.

[Macker]

Had to laugh at this thread, just glad I don't have to deal with printers yet. I can imagine it being a total pain.

[trixian]

I'm guessing the point here is that of all people, the guys at the print shop should be on top of the pixels/DPI thing, and lots of us here are rather horrified by the lack of knowledge.
While secretly rescaling the images up to what ever dpi was requested might be a good solution, it still doesn't solve the problem of all these people being completely clueless.
We could probably have a similar discussion on colour space and gamut. Seems print shop people are not too clear about this either, thinking everything needs to be cmyk, even if the printer it self (newer types) supports internal conversion from rgb with their own calibrated profile.

Should we all just remain silent and indifferent every time we encounter false information or ignorance? Can't blame people for wanting to make their fellow men better informed really....

[glorybound]

I went through Lynda.com's course on the print shop, and it is a science. Probably, with modern day printers, print shop people don't need to know nearly what they used to have to know.