100% view... 66%, 50%, 33%... etc

[mcn]

Could someone enlighten me please :sweat:


Came across some forums as saying that for 'such-and-such' a LCD/CRT screen... viewing the image at 33% equates an equivalent of a 4R or 5R print, etc...

Another quote saying at viewing at 100% on 'such & such' a screen size equates looking at details from an 11" x 14" print.

Sometimes, they even quote the viewing distance from the screen.

COuld anyone help me with the above...

e.g. I have a 6MP image capture... say my Nikon D50.... 3008px x 2000px...
Using a 17" LCD screen with a desktop screen resolution setting of 1024 x 768.

With my above settings, where does the 33%, 50%, 66%, 100% fit in? Pardon my ignorence.

 

[jOhO]

these percentages are the zoom values of the pixels.

so if u have a 1024x768 pixel IMAGE on a 1024x768 pixel SCREEN RESOLUTION, you will be viewing at 100%

at 50% u will be viewing a 512x384 pixel REPRESENTATION of that same image.

as for the size of print out, it depends on your screen size, that's if you wanna approximate the size of the image when you print it out. however, size of print is not determined by ur monitor or the resolution of it, but rather the pixel size of the image (in pixels, or dots) and the dpi it is printed at.

typically we print at 300dpi, so for a 4"x6" image, you generally would send thru a 1800x1200pixel image. as for whether 300dpi is better than 150dpi or worse than 600dpi, that's another topic altogether.

 

[mcn]

Thanks for the speedy reply, jOhO.

Say, given my settings,
17" LCD, desktop resolution = 1024px x 768px
image px = 3008px x 2000px

e.g. I open the image in CS2 or Capture 4.3 ... if I use the zoom tool and zoom it to, say, 50%... I know I'm viewing it at 1504px x 1000px; likewise for 33% - approx 990px x 660px. That much I'm aware.

Thing is, when I 'see' people talking about 'checking for noise', doing USM, etc... some say 'do' it at 100% view... some say that's too much (unless u pixel-peep). i.e. better to do the editing (for noise, USM) at 33% (or 50%, whatever) view... because that better represents the (lookof the) final print of a 5R photo. ie., u only do editing at 100% if your final print is going to be like, 11" x 14".

P.S. I know about the part on DPI; ie, at 300DPI, the D50 pic would be about 10" x 6".

Pardon me if I sound confusing. I am.

 

[Stoned]

Thanks for the speedy reply, jOhO.

Say, given my settings,
17" LCD, desktop resolution = 1024px x 768px
image px = 3008px x 2000px

e.g. I open the image in CS2 or Capture 4.3 ... if I use the zoom tool and zoom it to, say, 50%... I know I'm viewing it at 1504px x 1000px; likewise for 33% - approx 990px x 660px. That much I'm aware.

Thing is, when I 'see' people talking about 'checking for noise', doing USM, etc... some say 'do' it at 100% view... some say that's too much (unless u pixel-peep). i.e. better to do the editing (for noise, USM) at 33% (or 50%, whatever) view... because that better represents the (lookof the) final print of a 5R photo. ie., u only do editing at 100% if your final print is going to be like, 11" x 14".

P.S. I know about the part on DPI; ie, at 300DPI, the D50 pic would be about 10" x 6".

Pardon me if I sound confusing. I am.

Maybe I'm just weird, but I do my editing at 16.7%. I generally see everything I need to from there.

 

[jOhO]

no worries i know what u are talking about.

in a nutshell, it's a question of "how much of what i see on my screen will i be able to see in print?"

u know, like sharpen how much, remove how much noise etc etc.

i'm not sure what the "guidelines" are on how close u need to check ur image for sharpness and noise and what not, but perhaps not the best answer you want to hear, but EXPERIENCE will tell u.. :bsmilie:

if you must know, from my experience, i never sharpen my images anymore. if i do, it's so slight, and it's just becos i think.. aiyah print so big, sharpen abit "yi si, yi si".

and i don't do any noise reduction. (unless u consider the RAW converter's noise reduction feature...) either