Digital pics. Pixels and dpi when it comes to printing?

Question

I took an educated guess thinking that one of the standard settings of 640 x 480 on a digital camera translated to a 6 x 4 (4 x 6) in. photo. I found out that isn't true. I measured it out after printing one and it came out to be closer to 6.4 x 4.8 in. which makes sense if 1 pixel = .01 in. So, first, why isn't there a setting for standard photo sizes like instead of 640 x 480 using 600 x 400? Also, do I have to consider the dots per inch (dpi) when finally printing the photo? I know 96 dpi is a setting I see over and over. Does this work into a calculation when resizing a photo to print out to an exact size?

Answer 1

all those pixels are to do with image quality, not the actual size of your prints. more pixels will give you a clearer sharp image if you want it., or allow you print larger prints without loosing image quality

Answer 2

Okies! So, digi cam pics are actually taller than standard sized pics, you will always have to crop a little something off - I have no idea why this happens.

As for DPI, 96 is VERY VERY low...don't use it. Go as high as you can on your settings, for a good, solid image you'll want at least 300 dpi for any sized photo. Please note, resizing does not turn out the best results if you're stretching a 4x6 into a 8x10, it needs to have a solid resolution. If your image is...let's just say...4x6 (ish) at 150 dpi, when you resize it to an 8x10 it'll drop to about 76 dpi. That would be the largest you could get the image and don't believe folks when they say to just add in resolution, it really doesn't work that way...