Scan at 300 dpi gives file at 120 ppi

MW
Posted By
Maarten Worp
Jul 7, 2003
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430
Replies
5
Status
Closed
Whenever I scan 35mm transparencies at 300 dpi (or even 72 dpi or 480 dpi) the resulting file always has a resolution of 120 ppi. The input values for Height and Width are keyed in for A4-size prints; thus the resulting file at 120 ppi gives output H & W values which are too large (by 2.5 times for a 300 dpi scan). I use a scanner with TWAIN interface.
Why is the output fixed at 120 ppi; how can I get the control over what resolution to use? Thanks!
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CW
Colin Walls
Jul 7, 2003
This is all very confused.

Normally, slides are scanned at around 2400 PPI [not DPI!!!!]. This yields 3600 or so pixels along the long edge, which means that you have around the 300 PPI desirable for printing [gives 12" – just bigger than A4].

So, how many pixels are you getting?
The PPI setting of the image is only relevant when you go to print. After the scan, the only thing that matters is the number of pixels.
GH
Gary Hummell
Jul 7, 2003
A good scanning resource:
<http://www.scantips.com/>
Gary
DM
dave milbut
Jul 7, 2003
what version of ps? I think v6 had problems with resolution tags in the exif data. v7 fixed that.
P
Phosphor
Jul 7, 2003
Double-czech unit of measurement complicity from front to back.

Eschew obfuscation!
MM
Mac McDougald
Jul 8, 2003
If you mean you are scanning slides at 1:1 (actual size) at 300ppi, that’s not enough to do doodly squat with, only gives 425×283 pixels.

These (few) pixels can be rearranged to whatever ppi you want in Photoshop, but it’s not a big enough image for anything but maybe webwork.

Mac

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