Digital BW, The Print

Please forgive my post if these are silly questions to most folks on 
this list. I've come to feel like you guys are the rocket scientists 
of the printing business and am unworthy of standing in your 
collective shadows. Now that I've established that I'm a sycophant ...

1. When opening a RAW file from my Nikon D2x, for the best final 
print quality on my Epson 2400, what should my DPI setting be in 
Adobe Camera Raw? I _think_ that the D2x native resolution is 240 DPI 
but I'm not certain. Should I just open at that resolution and then 
resize in PS2 at the end of my workflow before printing? Or should I 
open it at another resolution. I've read that the native DPI of the 
Epson 2400 is 720 DPI, but have also read some folks saying as long 
as it is a multiple of 720 (e.g. 360) that will work fine as well 
(and you can't tell the difference).

2. If my original image size has a setting of 300 DPI (because I've 
already worked with the file and done all my retouching before I 
accessed your collective knowledge), at what stage should I upsize 
the image to a higher resolution (e.g. 360 dpi? 720 dpi?). Should I 
do that as the very first step before retouching? Or the very last 
step before applying unsharp mask?

Thanks for any insight you can provide!

Rob Greer
http://www.robgreer.com/

I'm not one of the resident "rocket scientists" but I'm a sucker for a
sycophantic plea, so I'll take a shot... 8*)

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Rob"
<digitalblackandwhitetheprint@...> wrote:
> 
> 1. When opening a RAW file from my Nikon D2x, for the best final 
> print quality on my Epson 2400, what should my DPI setting be in 
> Adobe Camera Raw? I _think_ that the D2x native resolution is 240 DPI 
> but I'm not certain. Should I just open at that resolution and then 
> resize in PS2 at the end of my workflow before printing? Or should I 
> open it at another resolution. I've read that the native DPI of the 
> Epson 2400 is 720 DPI, but have also read some folks saying as long 
> as it is a multiple of 720 (e.g. 360) that will work fine as well 
> (and you can't tell the difference).

One thing that might help, and it seems to be a little pedantic, but
here goes (and someone correct me if I'm wrong here!)

PPI = pixels per inch (usually refers to image "resolution", as in PS)
DPI = dots per inch (usually refers to printing resolution)

The D2X's images are captured at 4288x2848 pixels.  Until you are
ready to print the image and decide that you want 360 or 720 pixels
printed per inch of paper, the "resolution" or pixels/inch in
Photoshop are generally not terribly important; it does not change the
density of information in the file or number of pixels you have, it
just groups them into units of "screen" inches differently.  So, your
files at 300ppi are perfectly fine.  They would be 4288/300=14.99" by
2848/300=9.49", as far as Photoshop is concerned.  If you felt the
urge, you could tell PS to change the "resolution" to 360ppi (without
resampling), at which point your image would be 11.91"x7.91". 
However, until you print, these dimensions are generally unimportant.
 [The only time it is important is if you select "Print Size" under
view for your current zoom - PS will use your screen resolution to
show the photo as if it were the size indicated by the current
resolution; this is so you can look at the image at the size it might
be if it were printed.]

> 
> 2. If my original image size has a setting of 300 DPI (because I've 
> already worked with the file and done all my retouching before I 
> accessed your collective knowledge), at what stage should I upsize 
> the image to a higher resolution (e.g. 360 dpi? 720 dpi?). Should I 
> do that as the very first step before retouching? Or the very last 
> step before applying unsharp mask?

I think it's best to do all of your retouching/adjustments/etc.
(except for sharpening), then save the file with layers intact so you
can make changes easier.  When you print, depending on the size you
wish to print, you open the file, flatten, then resize/resample to the
DPI (dots per inch, of paper) and dimensions as appropriate.  Then
sharpen and print.

---

The 360dpi vs. 720dpi debate for Epson printers comes up periodically;
360dpi seems to work fine for my 2400.  I can't see the difference on
the papers I use if I uprez to 720.  However, you can make a couple of
sample prints if you want and see if it is visible to you.  Once
there's glass in front of it, 240dpi is actually fine for my purposes.

Hope this helps!  Sorry for the verbosity.  Corrections or comments
appreciated

Eric

Open in camera raw at the maximum file size allowed for the file that
is captured. In other words don't interpolate in camera raw. But DO
open the file in 16 bit in Photoshop.

In Photoshop you can resize if you need to using 360 dpi for your
print output. I do my sharpening in 16 bit also. Only with very fine
text are you really going to notice a difference between 720 and 360
for print output. If you have to res up the file a lot in Photoshop
you would probably be better off outputting at 240 dpi, unless you are
using glossy media.The higher the quality of your input data the more
flexability you have.

john

Another silly question:

Why not intepolate in camera raw?

Leslie Otterbein

On 4-Apr-06, at 7:30 PM, john dean wrote:

> Open in camera raw at the maximum file size allowed for the file that
> is captured. In other words don't interpolate in camera raw