Scanning+What+DPI+to+select

Scanning What DPI to select

If you are scanning photographs whether B/W or Colour the following advice applies:‐

In general, scanning at a higher dpi will give better results – albeit at the expense of longer scanning times and larger files.

Itʹs a trade‐off which depends on how much time and storage you have, and what use you want to make of the resulting files.

If you only envisage making same‐as‐original size prints, then scanning at 300dpi will provide an acceptable result.

However, if you wish to enlarge the prints, then scanning at a higher resolution may well prove beneficial.

An awful lot depends on the quality of the prints that you are scanning.

They may not contain more than 300dpi worth of detail.

If for example they were taken on poor camera equipment, with poor techniques, or have suffered due to the ravages of time, then 1200dpi will be wasted on them.

For best results:‐

I suggest scanning a couple of representative prints at 300dpi, 600dpi and 1200dpi, and then ʺusingʺ each resultant scan in the way that you envisage.

Be that an on‐screen display, same‐size print, or enlargement.

Ask yourself:‐

Can you see any difference ?

Is the larger file size of the higher‐dpi files worth any visible difference ?

Is the difference not obvious, but the added ʺsecurityʺ of those extra pixels affordable in terms of time and storage ?

You can use the ʺbest possibleʺ Dpi available in your hardware

Whether or not it is worth it is another question altogether.

Further instead of storing in BMP format ( Not JPEG for obvious reasons )

You may also wish to look at .tif file formats rather than .bmp for archiving.

They loose less on compression algorithms available to them, which may help reduce file sizes for storage.

If your scanning is for archive...

Then I strongly suggest burning more than one DVD, and storing them in separate places.

Then test each DVD periodically to check it for deterioration.

The long‐term reliability of recordable DVDs is far from proven.