Whats the best resolution to reprint photos?

Question

I have about one hundred 4 X 6 photos from an old photo album. I'd like to scan, save and reprint them as 4 X 6. What resolution should I use to preserve the quality of the photo when I reprint them? I tried 1200 dpi and that took forever!

Answer 1

If you don't want a super professional job, go ahead and scan at 300 dpi and print at 300 dpi. I'd like to see you go to at least 600 dpi in the scan, because you are undoubtedly going to have some dust and scratches to deal with and you will want that increased resolution for some working room. If your scanner offers dust and scratch "removal," try that and see if it does the job without killing the details of the final scan.

The print you are scanning is probably in the 200-250 range (approximate equivalent), so even going to 300 dpi is more than they started out with. When you view a 300 dpi scan of a 4x6 original, it's going to take you about 8 screens to actually see the whole thing. Actually, I'd say that 300 dpi is plenty unless you are going to try to do some semi-serious restoration work.

I just scanned a card that is a little over 4x6 (vertical format) and uploaded it for you to check out. It is a 300 dpi scan. Click "All sizes" and then "original" and I think you'll see that it's PLENTY big enough to work with for basic work.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/2095119772/

Answer 2

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RE:
Whats the best resolution to reprint photos?
I have about one hundred 4 X 6 photos from an old photo album. I'd like to scan, save and reprint them as 4 X 6. What resolution should I use to preserve the quality of the photo when I reprint them? I tried 1200 dpi and that took forever!

Answer 3

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If you have the original negative then it can be just as good, but if your scanning and printing from a print, quality is not that good, prints don't have anything like the same resolution as the negative. Your making a copy of a copy, if you see what I mean. Technically the maximum resolution you can scan a silver halide print at is 200dpi, that's all the resolution of the photographic paper is. You can scan at a higher resolution and get a larger file, but there will be no more detail, you have hit the resolution limit of the photograph. A negative, on the other hand, has far more resolution up to 5000dpi is about their upper limit. You can extract a lot more detail from a negative that is just not there in the print. Chris

Answer 4

Reprints Of Old Photos

Answer 5

I would recommend scanning at the highest resolution possible with the scanner you have, regardless of how long it takes. The old saying, start with junk end up with junk applies. If possible, scan two 4x6's together on your flat bed, and chop them apart in an image editing program. Use any included "goodies" such as dust and scratch removal. Once your scanning is done, you can use the files for many end uses, including reducing the file size to be printed @ 280>300 PPI, the common "photo quality" resolution. You will not notice much of a difference going higher than that.

So break out the vino, or micro brew, and chip away at your scanning project, stay warm, good luck.

Answer 6

Always scan at the maximum resolution. Most commercial printers recommend printing no lower than 320DPI so a 4x6 would be 1280*1920 total image size.

Answer 7

It takes forever. What you can do is scan them at top quality and have a professional on-line photo-printer print them for you. If you let them do all 100 the price is MUCH lower that the paper cost you put in your printer (not to mention cartridges and agony)