How can I set my Canon XSI 450D to shoot at 180 or 300 dpi?

Question

Just got this nice Canon XSI EOS 450D camera but all of my pictures are coming out at 72dpi, even at the largest format. I am a graphic designer who needs high quality photos for print, so 72dpi is not going to cut it. Can this camera shoot at a higher dpi resolution? If so, how?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You'll need to shoot RAW.  Then in the conversion from RAW to TIFF or JPEG you can specify the DPI.  You can do this in Photoshop or in Digital Photo Professional that probably came with your camera.

DPI and Pixel Resolutions are in two different realms, though somewhat related, they are independant.  Your camera produces files at the maximum resolution of 4272 x 2848.  At 72 dpi, your print will roughly be 60"x40".  At 300 dpi, 14.25"x9.493".  At 600dpi, 7.12"x4.747", at 1200dpi 3.56"x2.373".  Think of cameras in terms of pixel resolution and printers in terms of dpi.  When files are inserted into layouts, the embedded dpi value is used.  You just need to change the embedded value to match up with the print size you desire.  Obviously, if you want a 120"x80" print at 300dpi... you've got the wrong camera. :)

Answer 2

Your camera is supposed to be able to be adjusted.

First look for Menu > Setup > Misc ... somewhere in there, is an option to set the default DPI.

There was something I read about the Canon DSLR files being defaulted at 180 DPI, Nikon 300 DPI and another DSLR (I think Pentax) 72 DPI.

I will look for the reference and get back to you.

NOTE:

Well the information on the Internet is inconsistent.  If you shoot using both RAW and JPEG Basic, you can edit using the JPEG files and then once you have the best of the best sorted, go to the matching RAW files and process them designating the resulting JPEG files as 300 DPI .. that should do it.

My guess is that since you are a graphic designer, you have the latest copy of Photoshop or even Photoshop CS3 Extended.