Think pixels. Pixels are the dots that make up your image. DPI (dots per inch) is meaningless unless you know the total number of inches making up the image size, and inches are meaningless unless you know the number of dots. If you know both, multiply them to get the total number of pixels.
For example, if you scan a 4 x 5" photo at 300dpi, your image
will be
4" x 300dpi by 5" x 300dpi or 1200 x 1500 pixels.
Tip: Most scanner software and virtually all bitmap editing programs can be set
to read in pixels rather than inches and dpi. For slide making
purposes, it's far easier to do that than to keep a calculator by your side at
all times.
Now 4096 x 2732 is a big image. Really, really big. Like 33 megabytes
uncompressed. In most cases, there's no reason to create images that big
since our film recorder software will scale smaller images up automatically.
"Right-size" your images. The more pixels (the higher the resolution), the
sharper and smoother your images will look on film. How far you want to take it
is your call, up to a maximum of 4096 x 2732 pixels (that's for 35mm
slides … check with us for specs on other size output). The more detail
you need to convey, the higher the resolution you should use.
Allow a safety margin. Our film recorders will put the entire image on
film, but the slide mount or negative holder may crop the image slightly.
If you want to project or print the entire image, leave a margin of safety.
Create images at 3800 x 2533 pixels or an even fraction of that resolution. When
we shoot these slightly undersized images, we center them on the final slide
with a black surround. Here are some typical image sizes:
| Full-frame 35mm | 4096 x 2732 | 3800 x 2533 | 1024 x 683 |
| With safety margin | 3800 x 2533 | 1900 x 1266 | 950 x 633 |
| Approx. file size | 33mb | 8.5mb | 2 mb |
Create your images in RGB color. If your images are already in CMYK or
PMS colors, convert them to RGB before sending them to us. Film recorders
are strictly RGB, so your images will be converted at some point no matter what.
Use 24-bit color. The files will be larger, but the quality is worth it. 8-bit
(or "paletted") images contain only 256 colors. The film recorder can
produce millions of colors so why not take advantage of them? The only
exception to this rule is screen captures. If they were 8-bit color in the
first place, it's best to leave them that way.
Consider getting a few test slides made before you create your final images.
Film and film recorders reproduce color differently from your screen or printer.
Some colors simply don't reproduce the same. Avoid using Pantone or
CMYK to specify your colors, as these often translate to RGB in surprising ways
and there's little or nothing we can do to correct for it.