what is the highest dpi available on a printer?

Question

As a hobby, I make greeting cards with old pictures that I scan into my Lexmark printer (model X5270- 4800 dpi). The pictures are REALLY old... like from the 1800 thru 1950s. My cards are usually around 5" x 7". I'm trying to learn how the "DPI" ratio relates to my hobby. Do they make printers that are more than 4800?? If they do, do I really NEED to upgrade considering that my projects are as small as they are? Also, if someone emails me a Jpeg of an old photo, how do I adjust the dpi to get the highest quality print? btw: the prints I'm getting now are beautiful & clear (when I use the right paper). I'm just trying to stay relevant, and always maintain the highest quality possible.

Answer 1

http://www.rideau-info.com/photos/index.html



Read the DPI Myth...!



Today's printers calm a wide range of so called printing DPI. 1200, 2400, 4800, etc...



Fact is, none actually print in or with 'dots' anymore. The ink is sprayed on, like a spray can and the "mixing chamber" of the head combines colors to make other colors. At one time a number of years ago when ink jets were "new" and they only had CMY and K for colors, you could indeed see the 'dots' and they were placed at the so called photo repro spacing of 300 per inch.



Today's printers and technology have far surpassed this lil number and instead of laying dots side by side, they now overlap and ink intermingles with other ink and these smooth continuous tone images appear.



In digital it's all PIXELS and setting your scanner to the pixel mode will make far more sense as you progress. To make a photo quality image from scanning all you need is 200 pixels per inch of photo you want to make. A 5x7 needs only 1000x1400 pixels to look great. Yes, you can go as high as you want, and if you just do a few tests your self you will see there is hardly any thing gained by going larger.



In my D-SLR I can set the markers for DPI anywhere from 72 to 300 and ya know what..? The image is the same size regardless of these DPI settings. If they were so important and tied to the size of a image, how come the image dosent change size in the camera as I change DPI settings..?



Why..? Because it's all PIXELS.... Read the DPI Myth above.



My few years old wide format Epson 7600 printer is called a 2880 DPI printer and I have fooled people thinking they were looking at a real photograph more than once. While printers are out there with higher #'s it becomes a moot point when image quality can not be seen as anything different, so why spend the money..?



http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/WideFormat/WideFormatDetail.jsp?oid=-12981



Bob - Tucson

Answer 2

There is a lot of confusion on this. How it looks, and what the eye can see is not relevant. 9600 dpi is a common claim now on Canon Printers. However, this is based on a minimal splatter of ink (2 picolitres), which has nothing to do with the actual pitch/resolution.

I have actually set up methods to test the pitch and on a 9600dpi printer and I get a clear 1000dpi full color. This is borne out when you Hack/dismantle the printer you find a 1000 line per inch optical guide used to track the ink cartridge.

I suspect that the 9.6 times more dots claimed is actually the matrix of mixed ink to get all the colors. i.e. going from 2 picolitres 1/9600" dot to a solid dot at 1/1000", with all 4, 5 or 6 inks overlayed.

Answer 3

You are all wrong, i have been professionally printing for 18 years. you are confusing PPI with DPI if you are saying 300 is as high as you should go. an image does not need more than 600 PPI (1200 PPI in some micro-printing applications) but a printer at 300 DPI is garbage, it looks like a blurred mess of ink. Now an epson r1800 for example can go from 720x1440 DPI to 5760 x 1440 DPI. take an image print it at 1440 DPI or even 2880, it looks good, ESPECIALLY with portraits. Organic images need nothing more than this, but when it comes to line are, secure imaging, vector printing, etc... 4880 is the way to go. You can go a bit higher than this like 5760 but that is all you need.



So please stop saying that printing in 300 DPI is enough, it is NOT, your eye CAN see the difference, very clearly infact.



Also, most printers do not mix colors, they spray but do not mix. Maybe some exotic continuous tone printers but even the pixma pro 9500 MK II that runs with 10 colors at 4880 DPI does not mix anything in the head, just places dots using a micro piezoelectric dropper for each nozzle to change the sizes of the drop size.



I have came to notice, when getting in to quality the variable dot size is very apparent in the quality, but when you have a printer the quality will not be perfect. I know many high end professionals stay away from 10 color for certain reasons with organic photos but when printing high quality vectors the more colors, the less apparent the dots, the harder it is to see the dots, the crisper the lines.



So, people say 600 ppi is good, i use 1440 ppi with detailed work as it is just easier to work with. When printing, use 5760 for the best quality or higher if you have it. Also, DPI is not the only factor, check out the epson printers with micro-piezo variable drop sizes, they have some very qood quality at even 1440 dpi.

Answer 4

The DPI figure touted by printer manufacturers is essentially irrelevant. Publication standards use 300 DPI. If you want to go better, 600 DPI exceeds the ability of the human eye's native resolution.



Interpret the printer DPI capability only to ascertain how precise the dot placement will be and how tiny the dots will be.



If you're dealing with old pictures, they probably have poor resolution by today's standards anyway.

Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

what is the highest dpi available on a printer?

As a hobby, I make greeting cards with old pictures that I scan into my Lexmark printer (model X5270- 4800 dpi). The pictures are REALLY old... like from the 1800 thru 1950s. My cards are usually around 5" x 7". I'm trying to learn how the "DPI" ratio relates to my hobby. Do...

Answer 6

To Know printer true DPI resolution just refer manocrome resolution which may ne 1200 or 1440. but colour printing uses overlapping many colour so it can claim enhansed DPI to 5000 or 9000. More the ink tank more DPI resolution. But printing resolution in practical 300dpi resolution is most common, for that see photo printing software dpi setting before printing.

Answer 7

Best Dpi For Printing

Answer 8

Great pertinent answers, thankyou

Answer 9

Maybe, yeah

Answer 10

Thanks for all the answers