Is there any drop in quality if I 'downsample' image?

[Veronica Choo]

In PS, suppose my image starts off with enough pixels for 8 x 12 at 360 ppi. But I want to print at 4 x 6, 200ppi and don't want the extra space on the CD. So I need to resample the image. I know that upsampling will degrade the image. But what about this case of 'downsampling', that is throwing away unneeded pixels?

Thanks!

 

[Sion]

I guess it would affect image quality marginally if dowmsampling to half size. I wouldn't downsample 360ppi to 200ppi unless that's the resolution optimum to the output device.

Another thing to consider is that some subjects e.g. images with soft tone are easier to downsample than images with lots of details and sharp definitions.

Why not run a print-out of an important section of the two images side by side and see for yourself whether the dowmsampling quality is acceptable to you?

CDs are so cheap these days that downsampling images to fit images into a CD is something you very rarely need to think about.

 

[coke21]

In PS, suppose my image starts off with enough pixels for 8 x 12 at 360 ppi. But I want to print at 4 x 6, 200ppi and don't want the extra space on the CD. So I need to resample the image. I know that upsampling will degrade the image. But what about this case of 'downsampling', that is throwing away unneeded pixels?

Thanks!

Most printers (FDI) can print up to 300dpi. So why not keep it at 300dpi instead? Also, images of 200dpi are of acceptable quality so don't think its a problem if you do downsize it to 4x6 200dpi.

 

[Veronica Choo]

Hi Sion and Coke...Thanks.

I've just received my prints back. They looked all right even though I had downsampled from 360 to 250. But just a few prints don't look sharp even though they looked very good on my screen... So I'm wondering if downsizing would affect. Anyway, the next time I print, I guess I will stick to the original 360ppi. I just thought it's an overkill even though I use CD storage.

 

[sehsuan]

aiyah, use CDRW lor. after get back can format and reuse...

use the highest DPI you can, if you can have more pixels to describe the pic, why do with less?