Digital BW, The Print

Hi, sorry if this is a basic question.

I'm just starting to experiment with digital printing with an Epson
C86.  What dpi should I shoot for when editing my images in Photoshop
and shooting them straight to the C86 using either the MIS EZ inksets
or the stock durabrite inksets?  300 dpi?  600 dpi?  As high a dpi as
I can get for the specific image I'm printing?

All the best,

Dan Neal
(http://www.agriope.com)

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Dan" 
<orkspace@y...> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi, sorry if this is a basic question.
> 
> I'm just starting to experiment with digital printing with an Epson
> C86.  What dpi should I shoot for when editing my images in 
Photoshop
> and shooting them straight to the C86 using either the MIS EZ 
inksets
> or the stock durabrite inksets?  300 dpi?  600 dpi?  As high a dpi 
as
> I can get for the specific image I'm printing?
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Dan Neal
> (http://www.agriope.com)

Hi Dan

First thing to get straight is the differnece between dpi and ppi. 
Now dpi dots per inch is what your printer uses, ppi pixels per inch 
is the resolution of the file you send to your printer. Confused ?

For printing dpi, most people seem to use 1440. My printer can print 
at 2880 but I can see no difference in print quality at 2880 and its 
a lot slower.

ppi is the resolution you set it photoshop and controls the size and 
quality of the print. If you go to image size in photoshop at the top 
of the dialog box it will display the size of your file in pixels. 
Say for example 2400 x 1200 pixels. Untick the resample box. Now have 
a play and input different figures for the resolution and you will 
see the output size of the print change. Eg 300 ppi would give you a 
print 8 x 4 inches. Number of pixels / resolution. 

Question is what should this figure (ppi) be ? With a C86 the largest 
size you will be printing is A4, so I would say anything above 180 
ppi would be sufficient. 300 ppi is optimum. Anything above 300 ppi 
the eyes cannot see. 

With Epson printers there is a school of thought that you should use 
an integer division of 720, something to do with how the printer 
engine works. Eg 360, 240, 180

Hope this helps.


Peter

Hello Dan, Peter,

>With Epson printers there is a school of thought that you should use 
>an integer division of 720, something to do with how the printer 
>engine works. Eg 360, 240, 180

In my own experiments this doesn't seem to make any discernable
difference.  In various threads over the past couple of years others
have agreed.  It may be one of those cases of theory vs practical
reality, where in the real world there is no difference worth worrying
about.  

I never resample any more because it changes the image, and therefore
requires having a different version of the file for each output size.
I just change the output size to suit and let the ppi fall wherever
it falls.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm