Can I make a 300dpi picture?

[97tbird]

I have a 3.2 MP Konica Minolta DiMage Z10 camera. The camera allows the following sizes:
2048 x 1536
1600 x 1200
1280 x 960
640 x 480

I need to know if I can take 300dpi picutres, but the manual doesn't talk about dpi as a unit. Can anyone tell me how I can find this out?

Thanks!

 

[keith]

It depends on the size of the picture.

At 300dpi, a 640*480 image will be 640"/300*480"/300 = 2.13" by 1.6"

A 2048*1536 image will be 2048"/300*1536*/300 = 6.82" by 5.12".

If you print the 2048*1536 image smaller than 6.82" by 5.12", it will be more than 300dpi.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Quote:

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I need to know if I can take 300dpi picutres, but the manual doesn't talk about dpi as a unit. Can anyone tell me how I can find this out?

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DPI is not something that is dependent on the camera or the number of megapixels that it can shoot. It's something that you can set in a photo editing software or during printing.

For example, say you have a 1200x600 pixel image and you tell your printer to print it in a 4 inch x 2 inch box. This effectively causes your dpi to be 300 (1200/4).

But now say you want the same 1200x600 image printed larger, say 8 inch x 4 inch. Now, the same image will have lower resolution because the same number of pixels is spread over a larger area - hence your effective dpi is 150 (1200/8).

DPI (dots per inch) just tells you how many pixels you'll have in one inch of printed area. The higher the DPI, the better the quality, but it's only really relevant when printing something. For viewing on a monitor, it's irrelevant.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Also, some image file formats (JPEG for one) can store the DPI information, so that the printing application knows that if the DPI is set to 300, then it should print a 1200x600 image in an area of 4" x 2". Most photo applications will allow you to modify this DPI information. However, you cannot change it in the camera itself.

 

[97tbird]

Thanks a lot Pete, and Keith. That really explained all I wanted to know

Pete: any new AV stuff?
My pioneer Dv-393-s workes great, just like you predicted; I really love the pic quality (even with just component/interlaced). and all the sound settings are great for the Onkyo (2-ch stereo).

 

[Quattro Pete]

Well, I did get a pair of PSB Alpha B speakers and a 10" Yamaha sub for my PC. All hooked up to that Onkyo receiver that you have in your system as well.

I've been contemplating buying a bigger TV, but I'll have to buy a car in the coming months, so I'll most likely hold off on other purchases for the time being.