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RAW File Conversions in Photo Book Software

Gwyn
Posted 04/01/2014 - 13:52 Link
I've printed photo books at 240, and even less on occasion when I've had to. Never had a problem.

The program should tell you when a photo is of too low a resolution to print well. I use a local Dutch shop's software for my books normally, but they are ultimately printed by Albelli. I've use Cewe too in the past with no problems.

I shoot DNG with a K5ii, use PSE9 for editing work and have never had a problem. Do save your jpegs at 12 though, not 10.

Have you tried reloading the photo book software?

You can set the resolution to save at in the editor, once you leave ACR, and before you save as.
Garybaldbee
Posted 04/01/2014 - 15:23 Link
Gwyn wrote:
I've printed photo books at 240, and even less on occasion when I've had to. Never had a problem.

The program should tell you when a photo is of too low a resolution to print well. I use a local Dutch shop's software for my books normally, but they are ultimately printed by Albelli. I've use Cewe too in the past with no problems.

I shoot DNG with a K5ii, use PSE9 for editing work and have never had a problem. Do save your jpegs at 12 though, not 10.

Have you tried reloading the photo book software?

You can set the resolution to save at in the editor, once you leave ACR, and before you save as.

I haven't re-loaded the software yet - I've got a book nearly completed in it, just ready to go when I can resolve this issue with the last few pages of RAW conversions.

I've checked again and it doesn't seem to be a resolution issue, though now I'm keen to ensure that I manage to achieve 300 DPI again anyway. Would you be able to tell me if there is an easy way of setting this please, because I can't immediately see how to do so.

Many thanks again. I'm conscious that I'm taking up your valuable time on this!
Garybaldbee
Posted 04/01/2014 - 16:45 Link
Garybaldbee wrote:


I've checked again and it doesn't seem to be a resolution issue, though now I'm keen to ensure that I manage to achieve 300 DPI again anyway. Would you be able to tell me if there is an easy way of setting this please, because I can't immediately see how to do so.

Actually I have been able to work this one out, at least.

I've just tried shooting in RAW+ though and the conversions from RAW and the original JPEGs are still showing resolutions of 240 and 300 DPI respectively. Is there a reason for this difference and should it be a problem?
McGregNi
Posted 04/01/2014 - 17:22 Link
Its no problem - resolution clearly is not the issue. For photobook-sized prints there's not a significant difference between 300 & 240 ppi really, certainly not enough to cause the big problems you've been seeing.

PPI vs DPI ? This is a never-ending question, and has been thrashed out many times before, so do a search on the forum for more info - there's others here with much more knowledge of it, but I'll give you the basics here for now ... they are not the same. PPI is 'pixels per inch' and is the density of image pixels in a photo file. Different cameras output files with different densities, and it is not really that important at point of capture.

The most significant thing for capture files (the settings you make on the camera ) are image size and quality. So for best quality you set the largest image size available - this is shown in 'megapixel' units - so you choose the highest available ... this is the photo dimensions multiplied - your figures above suggest you're shooting at 19.5 megapixels sounds plenty enough!

Next is trhe 'quality setting', only relevant to JPEGs - this controls the amount of JPEG compression. Again, just go for the maximum, called Premium on Pentax.

'DPI' is Dots per Inch and refers to a printing machine resolution onto the paper - this is individual really, optimised to the machine and paper, so only significant if you are operating a printer.

Anyway, for RAW you're getting the maximum size and quality automatically. The ppi setting you make for printed output has been debated here many times. My own position differs from that of , for example, our main mod John Riley - but then we use different printintgprocesses. My view, for online printing services, is that you just send the service a full-sized maximum quality JPEG and don't worry about the resolution - any file that is in the region of 8-16 mb will be plenty for most common sizes, and (as I have found) if needed the services dedicated resizing software will interpolate and otherwise re-jig you file to optimise it for the chosen output size - all under the supervision of a professional & experienced operator.

John has argued that it is always better for the photographer to carry out their own resizing operations to optimise their shots to the requirements of the printing service. I accept this approach in cases of commercial work or where you are dealing one-to-one with the printing personal, but at the same time I question whether Photoshop on a home computer is necessarily an 'optimum' solution for this type of thing, especially if the file is being 'upscaled' - ie made bigger.

Anyway - I ramble! To be honest, in your case here, you say the only place that photos look wrong is in the Cewe photobook software ... the dimensions, resolution and compression quality all seems fine ... so logic suggests it must be the Cewe software at fault, not your photos.

I also see no reason to pay for prints to be made when they don't look any good on the screen - if they look rubbish in the photobook software then they will probably look the same when printed! If Cewe themselves can't resolve it, I advise you to keep hold of your money and prepare a photobook using another service.
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Edited by McGregNi: 04/01/2014 - 17:25

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