EOS20D DPI

[rwham]

I have a EOS 20D, and I want to change the DPI setting to 300. It is currently at 75. How can i do this? Also, just in case this is like every other forum i've ever seen, I know that i am a noob. You don't need to make 50 posts telling me.

[condyk]

No need for you to assume people would waste their time calling you a 'noob' ... all kinds of people ask all kinds of questions here and normally they get a polite and relevant response. Though normally the person asking the question is polite too :lol:

Welcome ... and maybe someone else will be along soon to answer your question.

[tzalman]

Amazing how frequently this is asked, and I guess a lot of folks are getting tired of answering.
DPI is a useless number who's only possible function involves printing. Let's use round numbers to make it simpler: If you have a 2000x3000 pixels image and that image is labeled 100 DPI, then if at the time of printing you indicate that you want to print "at actual image size" then the picture will be 20x30 inches [2000/100 x 3000/100], no matter what size paper you put in the printer (and not look very nice because 100 DPI prints are poor quality). If, on the other hand, you load a 10x15 sheet of paper and tell the printer "resize to fit the page," your picture will be printed as if it were 200 DPI. Or you can instruct Photoshop or some other editor to change that label to 200 DPI and then "actual size" will be 10x15 inch.
In short, if you need to you can change the label with PS but generally you won't need to. Just print "to fill page" and do a quick mental calculation dividing image size by paper size to get the operational DPI. If that number is 250 or more you are cleared for blast off. Of course a lot depends on your standards, some people say 200 is enough and others demand 300. If you want really big prints you will need to learn about resizing by inserting some new pixels.
Finally it should be noted that Canon puts that 72 DPI label on files from the Basic Zone while files from the Creative Zone get 300 DPI - or maybe 350, I don't remember. Why 72 DPI? Well the answer seems to be "If it was good enough for Grandpaw..."

[prime80]

I don't know about the 20D, but on my Rebel XT, all of my pictures come into photoshop at 72ppi. My wife uses full auto, and I shoot all of my pics in AV, TV, or M. They all still show up as 72ppi in PS. On my old Powershot A20, they all came in at 180ppi. It doesn't matter, as I resize them all to 300ppi for printing, but it would be nice if I could specify the ppi in the camera and save an extre step in PP.

[lostdoggy]

Like Tzalman said it really doesn't matter. DPI only matter when you are ready to print, and don't confuse yourself with PPI and DPI.

[tim]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=83445