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Post by Bailey on Jan 19, 2019 23:13:53 GMT
Why Do Print Services Sometimes Specify A Resolution (PPI)?I don't use any print services any more, but I have always wondered why sometimes they specify a specific resolution (PPI) at which images must be submitted at. Personally I have always guessed/assumed the specified resolution is their printer's native resolution. The reason I think this is because if an image is at their printer's native resolution then their printer will not resample the image as discussed in the thread Resolution Issues.A printer resampling an image could result in loss of print quality, especially sharpness. From the print service provider's point of view, they obviously would not want to have any disgruntled customers. For example, if a customer sent a 600px by 400px image to be printed on 12in x 8in paper to a print service who requires 300ppi for the paper size, the print will most probably not be as sharp as the original image because for the paper size in this case the image's resolution is only 50ppi. If the customer is not very familiar with the concept of resolution with regards to printing at least, the print service might have trouble convincing the customer that the poor quality print is not due to their printer but due to the low resolution of the customer's image. The customer leaves disgruntled and the print service probably loses a customer through no fault of their own. So with the print service specifying the resolution they require, they put the onus back on the customer to submit an image with sufficient resolution so that the print service's printer does not resample the image and so there should not be any noticeable loss of sharpness in the print when compared to the submitted image. If anyone has any other ideas on why print services sometimes specify a resolution, I, and hopefully others, am interested in seeing them 
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Post by Major Major on Jan 19, 2019 23:20:11 GMT
You're just like an old dog with a bone, aren't you?
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Post by Bailey on Jan 19, 2019 23:28:49 GMT
You're just like an old dog with a bone, aren't you? Nope, I am just asking a legitimate question the answer to which I am not sure of but interested in. If you think this question is illegitimate, not useful or potentially helpful to anyone, then since you are an administrator I don't understand why you simply do not delete this thread. |
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Post by michelb on Jan 20, 2019 15:30:06 GMT
You're just like an old dog with a bone, aren't you? Nope, I am just asking a legitimate question the answer to which I am not sure of but interested in. If you think this question is illegitimate, not useful or potentially helpful to anyone, then since you are an administrator I don't understand why you simply do not delete this thread. It's a legitimate question which can have two kinds of answers in my opinion. The first one is that I am convinced that many printing services operators don't really understand the isue themselves. Their background is printing technology, not photography and their goal is to make their job easy by receiving files of decent size compliant with the kind of technology available to them. It's the same for web hosting or publishing sites. They should concentrate on defining pixel sizes but we see too many requirements which make no sense. The second one is history. Many of the misunderstanding and meaningless rules are coming from old practices which may not be totally false, but which are totally useless today. That is true for printing technology, but that is also true for the software used in the printing industry. The best explanation I have seen has been in the French Adobe forum, where specialists of other softwares like Indesign, Illustrator, Acrobat explained how older sofwares (now extinct) did require totally useless ppi measurements. What was necessary 20 years ago for the softwares to comply with the hardware of that time is now obsolete and a huge diffculty for teachers.
If you consider the printing options for books or scrapbooking, I think that we have a wide choice of solutions. What is more important: optimizing your choice for 300 or 360 ppi or on the other hand, choosing between various paper qualities, glossy or matte, inkjet or silver printing? Taking into account the necessity of cropping for full bleed images?
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Post by Bailey on Jan 21, 2019 10:31:31 GMT
Before I set myself up to do my own colour management and printing at home, I used two print services. I recall an occasion where I asked one of the counter staff "What resolution do you need my images to be?". The reply was "We print at 300 ppi.". I then asked what will happen to the print if I give an image at a resolution other than 300ppi. I recall the reply was "We print all images at 300ppi". The counetr staff would not elaborate on why. I thought at the time they are just giving me the standard reply management most probably instruct their counter staff to give to similar questions. So I am not sure how your comment below relates to my experience above. Many of the misunderstanding and meaningless rules are coming from old practices which may not be totally false, but which are totally useless today. Can you give an example(s) of some of the meaningless rules you refer to please? |
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