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Question About Converting an Image to Higher DPI

Discussion

5 replies
Posted by SandyRichardsBrown on April 2, 2018 at 2:31 AM
I have some older cell phone images that are 72 dpi.  If I convert the image to 240 or 300 dpi, how is the quality/sharpness affected?  I can't really tell (which may be the answer!) 
Thanks
Sandy
 
Posted by Nancy de Flon on April 2, 2018 at 12:07 PM
Hi Sandy, my cellphone is an iPhone 5 and it takes photos in 72 dpi. If I want to do anything with the photos other than email them directly to friends or post on FB, I have to ask the phone to send them at the original size. Even still, converting the image to a higher resolution doesn't make them more usable; it's not going to improve the sharpness. Maybe other types of smartphones are better in this regard, I don't know, but this is the case with mine. Hope this helps.
Posted by Avi Hirschfield on April 2, 2018 at 12:43 PM
Sandy there will be bo difference in anything other that the resolution you change.
As the dpi  goes up the size becomes smaller thats it.  ):
Avi
Posted by Ed Williams on April 2, 2018 at 1:23 PM
Sandy:

I think most cell phones will give you a file size of about 1-2 MB which can be re-cropped with some success to 240-300 dpi from 72 dpi.  As long as the original was sharp, it should come out pretty well.  I did that with these two shots which were posted on NPN a while back with fair results.  Not going to give you the IQ that you get from your new 850, but they come out pretty usable anyway.

http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/ic.cgi?a=vp&pr=242123&CGISESSID=89fd49243d7ace9169419fd6b4659837&u=10441&title_action=

and

http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/ic.cgi?a=vp&pr=237158&CGISESSID=89fd49243d7ace9169419fd6b4659837&u=10805&title_action=
Posted by SandyRichardsBrown on April 2, 2018 at 4:15 PM
Thanks, friends!
Sandy
Posted by Preston Birdwell on April 4, 2018 at 12:04 PM
Sandy, I edited the topic title to be more precise.
--P