i9900 Minimum dpi. PLEASE HELP.

[maxbatt]

This is my first post so bear with me. About a month ago I purchased a Nikon d70s for fun. THEN I decided that I finally wanted to get a printer, too. I chose the Canon i9900 for its excellent image quality AND its ability to print large format. Here's the problem.

Yesterday, I was checking out a local Berkeley photo shop website; they had an option to send files electronically to be printed at the store, AND they said to save to 300 dpi to ensure best quality. I started thinking about it, about whether the Nikon's photos were big enough to fill up a 13x19 inch space at 300dpi. So I went into photoshop, dragged a photo I took at maximum resolution into a canvas I had created (13x19, 300dpi).....it only took up like 10inchX6.66inch!!! In other words approx. 1/4 of the canvas. DAMN....is there anything I can do to fix this problem?? Does it have to print at 300dpi, does this mean I am not taking FULL advantage of the $400 dollar printer I just bought. I am very upset. Can someone please enlighten me on inkjet print resolutions? Anything you guys can tell me would be supremely appreciated!

Thanks,
MAX

 

[Grandad35]

Maxbatt,

Don't get too hung up on 300 dpi number.

This link (http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/quality/) gives a good explanation of interpolation and how a good software package can do wonders in printing an acceptable image from even a low resolution file. If you use Photoshop, try upsizing the image using "bicubic" interpolation ("bicubic smoother" if you have PSCS or PSCS2). I do all of my printing through Qimage, which offers an assortment of interpolation options and prints at Canon's "native" 600 dpi. As an extreme example, I recently printed an 800x1200 pixel image at 12x18" (67 dpi), and the finished image looked very much better than I had any right to expect.

Also remember that anyone looking at a large print will generally be further away than when they look at a small print, and a loss of sharpness will be less obvious at a greater distance. According to this thread, billboards are printed at 25 dpi (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=89841).