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Digital Focus: Foolproof Photo Printing

By Dave Johnson, PCWorld    Oct 8, 2002 1:00 AM

Q&A: How Do I Make Standard-Size Prints?

Our office has purchased a Kodak DX3600 digital camera for taking photos of our construction sites. Recently, I was asked to print a copy of one of the photos to hang on the project coordinator's wall in an 8-by-10 frame. However, the camera's "good" setting of 900 by 600 pixels does not allow producing an 8 by 10 print without cropping. Is there any way to make standard-sized photo prints from digital images without distorting them?

--Dorothy Bird, Winnipeg, Manitoba

First of all, Dorothy, let me suggest that you use the camera's highest resolution when taking photographs. The DX3600 is a 2-megapixel camera, which has just barely enough pixels to print a decent-looking picture at 8 by 10 inches--and you're trying to print an 8 by 10 with far fewer pixels than that. The 900 by 600-pixel format may be called "good" in the camera's settings, but it really isn't; it only prints well as a 3 by 5 on a 200-dots-per-inch ink jet printer.

When it comes down to printing the image, remember that the dimensions of a digital image print are different than a film print--which is where we get the 8 by 10 inch standard from. So all digital images will take a little cropping to print at a standard size like 8 by 10 or 5 by 7. And for the skinny on doing that, just take a look at this week's feature.

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