Hello,
does anybody know what DPI a foto book will have when using the built in order feature of Photos? I found some old sites describing how to increase the DPI for iPhoto or Aperture and I'm wondering if there is a similar setting for Photos. Apple's product description doesn't give any information on that.
Cheers,
Stefan.
These are the dpi values that iPhoto 9.6.1 uses for its various items:
The dpi I strive for is 300 dpi or larger. However, I've had books with photos that are in the 180 dpi range that came out very nicely. Just always use the largest image available.
iPhoto creates PDF files that are 300 dpi so anything with a higher dpi will be downsized so don't bother to artificially increase dpi beyond that. In fact, artificially increasing dpi is, as Larry has pointed out, counterproductive as it lessens the image quality.
One key item you can control is the color profile. Do not use the Adobe RGB profile. Use the standard RGB from Apple RGB, Camera RGB (as long as it's not Adobe) or the sRGB IEC61966-2.1 profile.
We can only assume that Photos uses values similar to iPhoto since they use the same printing facilities.
Quality is a personal opinion - my opinion is that Apple Photos books are outstanding - you may or may not agree with my opinion - Apple does guarantee satisfaction -- Print Services Support - Apple -- from the USA page
Apple wants you to be thrilled with your print product. If you are dissatisfied with an item and want to return it, we're here to help.
LN
That is very useful, Stefan. Could you post the link where you found it? Then we might be able to track down the English original version.
Found it:
Image resolution guidelines for print products ordered in Photos for OS X and iPhoto - Apple Support
German Version:
Leitfaden zur Bildauflösung von in Fotos für OS X und iPhoto bestellten Abzügen - Apple Support
But this tells us the resolution for the photos we are providing, not the resolution of the printers used.
DPI is not a setting it is a calculation (pixels divided by inches) - you can not truly increase the DPI of a photo (any software that does causes a quality reduction since it adds new information (made up pixels) to the photo based on calculations
Apple has never published DPI specs for books that I have seen but by experimentation people have found that any photo below 180 DPI gives a quality warning - 300 DPI is recommended for best quality
LN
Hi,
DPI is used to define the print quality of a medium like paper or screen, I understand that. The photos on Apples photo book looks worse then the one printed by my Canon printer MP560. Recommended 300 dpi doesn't mean really printed like that, does it?
The question is, what would be the expected quality?
Cheers,
Stefan.
The question is, what would be the expected quality?
Since Apple does not tell us, we have to test this.
You could take a photo of a test picture with dark lines at different distances .
Add this test picture to a book and save the book as a PDF file.
Open the PDF file and zoom in onto the page with the test picture and check, how many lines per inch you can clearly separate.
Hi,
searching the support sites from Apple I found this table, of course in German:
Produkt | Fotogröße (Zoll) | Fotogröße (cm) | Empfohlene Mindestauflösung (180 dpi) | Optimale Qualität (300 dpi) |
Extragroßes gebundenes Buch | 13 x 10 | 33 x 25,4 | 2375 x 1836 | 3938 x 3044 |
Großes gebundenes Buch | 11 x 8½ | 28 x 21,5 | 2010 x 1558 | 3338 x 2587 |
Mittleres Taschenbuch | 8 x 6 | 20 x 15 | 1440 x 1080 | 2438 x 1838 |
Kleines Taschenbuch | 3½ x 2⅝ | 8,9 x 6,7 | 660 x 495 | 1088 x 825 |
Extragroßes quadratisches Buch | 10 x 10 | 25 x 25 | 1836 x 1836 | 3044 x 3044 |
Großes quadratisches Buch | 8 x 8 | 20 x 20 | 1440 x 1440 | 2438 x 2438 |
| Quadratisches Taschenbuch | 8 x 8 | 20 x 20 | 1440 x 1440 | 2438 x 2438 |
Kalender | 13 x 10 | 33 x 25,4 | 2375 x 1836 | 3938 x 3044 |
Doppelkarte | 5 x 7 | 13 x 18 | 1300 x 928 | 2138 x 1538 |
Einfache Karte | 4 x 6 | 10 x 15 | 1105 x 736 | 1838 x 1238 |
So it looks like that the default value is 300dpi and the minimum print quality is set to 180dpi. So I'm still wondering if this is really enough, because in a photo book you can see single dots on the pictures if you watch them in a bright room. As already stated, my Canon printer, who is capable of 9600 x 2400 dpi, doesn't show any single dots if printed on glossy paper. But maybe my expectations are too high, because it would be simple too expensive creating a photo book in such quality in mass production.
Cheers,
Stefan.
The support article ist this one: HT201495. You'll find also the english version.
Thanks you - that confirms what people have found
any photo below 180 DPI gives a quality warning - 300 DPI is recommended for best quality
LN
DPI for foto book using the new Photos app
