640x480 downloads

Wiren · June 24, 2011

I see there are some new download options.... really cool.

I can see where I might apply some pricing for photo's where people only want PC wallpapers and don't want to spend a ton of ca$h.

Does anybody know how many ppi's the 640x480 download is? I want to offer them at a discounted rate from the regular sizes, but don't want people able to blow them up past 5x7 range.

I realize that they may be able to print them larger and have them look a bit pixelated.... but to some that won't matter... how big will the 640x480 print go? I imagine that has to do with how many ppi's the download is?

Thanks

Lee

Andy · June 24, 2011

PPI? The photos are 640px on the long side, about 1/3d Megapixel. You can see the size prints that such a file will make via SmugMug, here: http://www.smugmug.com/help/print-quality

jfriend · June 24, 2011

ppi stands for "pixels per inch". So, if you are trying to calculate pixels per inch, you need to know the pixel count from your image and the inches of the print.

For a 8x10 print from your 640x480 image, you'd map the 640 pixels to the 10 inch dimension and get 640/10 = 64 pixels per inch. That's a very low resolution. If you want decent quality prints, you should likely have at least 128 pixels per inch and 200 ppi would be even better. You can increase the ppi by either uploading an image with more pixels (typical original digital images these days are more than 2000x3000 pixels) or by printing a smaller print. For a 4x6 print, you'd have 640/6 = 107 ppi.

Andy's post provides Smugmug's minimum resolution for a given print size, but providing all the original pixels rather than providing a severely downsized image will always make a better quality print.

Wiren · June 25, 2011

Thank you both

TxTortoise · July 4, 2011

The Help Desk confirmed that these are provided at 72dpi, which pretty much precludes a quality print and is perfect for Facebook, low cost market. The other downloads are 300dpi or as uploaded, I suppose.

jfriend · July 4, 2011

TxTortoise wrote: »

The Help Desk confirmed that these are provided at 72dpi, which pretty much precludes a quality print and is perfect for Facebook, low cost market. The other downloads are 300dpi or as uploaded, I suppose.

I don't think you (or perhaps the person you talked to on the Smugmug help desk) fully understand dpi. Smugmug does not provide the images at any dpi. dpi is not a property of the image, it's a property of a particular print that you create.

Smugmug provides images at a certain pixel dimension (e.g. 640x480 pixels). What someone does with those images determines the ppi. For example, if you take that image and make a print that's 1x1.3", you would have 480ppi in that print. If you make a print that's around 5x7, you'd have 480/5=96ppi. And, if you went to 8x10, you'd have 480/8=60ppi. So, the ppi is determined by the pixel count of the image and the size of the print. Smugmug only determines the pixel count.

SamirD · July 5, 2011

Great clarification John.

I was thinking all that too.

Andy · July 5, 2011

SamirD wrote: »

Great clarification John. I was thinking all that too.

We sure do know it - DPI is meaningless http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2996921 (you can find this in the tutorials link on Dgrin).

Thanks.

jfriend · July 5, 2011

Andy wrote: »

We sure do know it - DPI is meaningless http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2996921 (you can find this in the tutorials link on Dgrin).

Thanks.

You might want to check the info they got from the help desk.

Andy · July 5, 2011

jfriend wrote: »

You might want to check the info they got from the help desk.

Already have, John.

640x480 downloads

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