What photo scan resolution & format needed for iMovie slideshow based on needed outputs?

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What photo scan resolution & format needed for iMovie slideshow based on needed outputs?

I've been tasked with putting together a photo slideshow for my niece's wedding. I'll be using iMovie on a Macbook Pro and have done a few iMovie slideshows in the past. After reading several websites about scanning, I'm still not clear as to what dpi resolution to use based on my needed outputs:

Output #1: a DVD of the slideshow to be played at the reception(and looped throughout the night) via a DVD player connected to an HD capable projector which will project the slideshow on a 100' screen(4:3 format). However, I will accept the letterboxing with 16:9 format on this screen.

Output #2: a DVD of the slideshow that will be gifts for the family- most of which will be played on either their 720p or 1080p HDTVs at home via their DVD or Blue-Ray players. 16:9 format. This DVD will have a few title slides and some additional customization.

Output #3: a hosted HD slideshow on either Vimeo or Smugmug that can be streamed on the Web.

My pictures to scan range in size from a few wallet sizes, 3x5", 4x6", 5x7" and a few other sizes that are odd ball sizes like 3x3's. There are approx. 120 photos that will go into the slideshow and it will have music stitched into it.

My sense was to scan all of the photos into .tiff's @ 600 ppi, but also thought that perhaps I would need to scan at my maximum scanner ppi of 1200 for the wallet size photos and also to have better resolution on the large 100' screen. I do understand the trade-offs in resolution and file size and know even 600 ppi produces pretty large file sizes. Based on my project outputs above, what scan resolution and settings should I use? To be clear, NO prints will be needed from the scans.

Thanks!

iMovie '11, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on May 16, 2013 5:17 PM

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Answer 1

May 17, 2013 7:26 AM in response to rumpleman

600 dpi will be OK but overkill. 300dpi would be plenty and you could go even lower.

I would look at it this way. If I was doing a quick project for a DVD, I would use 240 or 300 and use JPEG, knowing that it was more than I needed. If I were scanning photos that I wanted to keep into the future, I might use 600dpi and use TIFF. This would give me a very high quality image that I could further edit and print in any size I needed.

Dots per inch are primarily useful for printers. Printers only have a few colors to work with so they will use multiple dots per pixel to mix a full color pallette. Your DVD will have 640x480 pixels, and your HD video will have up to 1920x1080 pixels. DPI does not really matter, unless you are printing, but some scanners make you specify it this way.

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Answer 2

May 17, 2013 7:42 AM in response to rumpleman

I would support AppleMan's comments. I always scan at 300dpi and save as a JPEG and see excellent results in the final exported video. But the maximum size I've viewed them on is probably a 40" LCD screen.

You mentioned showing the DVD on a 100" screen. Bear in mind that, as AppleMan mentioned, standard DVDs are 640 x 480 pixels (that's for NTSC). So they will be blown up quite considerably and may look less sharp than on an average sized TV. But I could be wrong as I have no experience with viewing any of my projects on such a large screen as you are proposing (100"). My gut feeling is that they will still look fine. Perhaps AppleMan could comment on this?

John

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Answer 3

May 17, 2013 11:45 AM in response to John Cogdell

I would be really leery of putting 640x480 content on a 100% screen. It could look really bad. Imagine having a beautiful big screen TV and you only watch the standard def channels. At a minimum I would test it first.

I would try to use 1920x1080 content on a screen that size. You would have to check with the venue to see what kinds of files they could handle. If they have an Apple TV, it would be easy. Or if you can attach your laptop to the projecort, it would be easy. Or attach your iPhone or iPad to the Projector with the proper cable.

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