Monitor DPI

[Chazs]

Probably a strange forum to ask this question, but this is where helpful friends are.

I have an LCD monitor (Dell) which uses a "normal" setting of 96 DPI. I've always heard that dpi for web photos should be 72 dpi. I'm assuming this is for CRT monitors, though. I downloaded GIMP today to play around with it, and found out that the LCD resolution really should be set at 86 (???). Window's Advanced settings also agrees with the 86 DPI by holding up a ruler to the on-screen ruler.

However, now using Photoshop, to have a 4x6 photo actually be 4x6 on the screen a dpi of 86 needs to be used. What, then, with the standard 72 dpi?

Does anyone else use an LCD monitor, and if so what resolution is it set at, and what do you set photo's to for online viewing?

[Scottes]

Monitor DPI is really meaningless. An image that is 800 pixels wide will display at 800 pixels wide, whether the monitor DPI is 72 or 86 or 96 or 10,000.

[timmyquest]

Dont moniters have a DPI rating too though, the distance between each pixle

[psychedelic_never]

Monitor DPI is really meaningless. An image that is 800 pixels wide will display at 800 pixels wide, whether the monitor DPI is 72 or 86 or 96 or 10,000.

Not really. There is something known as dot pitch which determines the width of a pixel on the monitor, obviously the smaller the dot pitch the higher the resolution. This is not a problem on CRT monitors as CRT monitors can change the dot pitch, but htis is not the case on the LCD monitors as the width of a pixel cannot be changed on a LCD screen. So if your LCD resolution is set to 100 DPI then an 800 pixel wide image will be 8 inches wide. Now in the case of a CRT monitor the width of the same image will depend on the following factors 1. The monitor size and 2. The resolution you are working at (800 x 600 or 1024 x 768).
So the bottom line is if you want your 3072 x 2048 photo to be of size 4 x 6 on screen then you have to set the resolution of your LCD screen as (screen height * 3072) / 4 by (screen width * 2072) / 6 irrespective of your DPI.
To avoid all this go to a photo lab and get a 4 x 6 pic developed and stick it on your screen :lol: just kidding.

[dphoto]

Everyone's DPI is going to be different, based upon the resolution they decide to use and the size of their monitor. For instance, I use a resolution of 1024x768 on a 17" monitor. The width of the monitor is about 13", so those 1024 pixels are stretched across 13" which gives a DPI of about 1024/13 = 78. Others might use 1024x768 on a 19" or 20" monitor, which gives a different DPI. Also, different brand 17" monitors differ in actual screen size. So, there is really no standard that I know of. I just know that the smallest resolution that is typically used is 800x600, so if you want something to fit entirely on the screen, you may want to keep that in mind. Like Scottes said, DPI isn't so important as the actual size (in pixels) of the image.

I hope that helps. If you have any more quesitons on this, you are always free to ask. :D
-Deva

[Jesper]

Ok, some people are starting to talk about resolution, pixel sizes and dot pitches of monitors. Fine, but the bottom line is: just forget about the DPI setting of your images when you're preparing images for display on a monitor or the web. The only thing that's important is the size of the image in pixels. A size of about 800 x 600 pixels is good for putting images on the web - the images will fit neatly on most monitors and won't be too large to download.

[PacAce]

Ok, some people are starting to talk about resolution, pixel sizes and dot pitches of monitors. Fine, but the bottom line is: just forget about the DPI setting of your images when you're preparing images for display on a monitor or the web. The only thing that's important is the size of the image in pixels. A size of about 800 x 600 pixels is good for putting images on the web - the images will fit neatly on most monitors and won't be too large to download.

I totally concur. And this brings us full circle back to what Scottes said:

Monitor DPI is really meaningless. An image that is 800 pixels wide will display at 800 pixels wide, whether the monitor DPI is 72 or 86 or 96 or 10,000.

:mrgreen: