for print

Vortex, the rule of thumb I've learned is that enlarged low DPI pictures look like shit in print, so figure out what size the 72dpi looks best at (I'm betting it's the smallest of the bunch) and shrink down the others to match.

72dpi is what most monitors show pictures at no matter how hi-res they are, so they may all look the same on screen, but in print it will make a considerable difference.

addendum -- you're probably best off at leaving the 72dpi at the size you got it in. But if you can at all, get a print test of the pictures before you send the pages off to get printed for reals.

Thanks to your advice I got a halfway decent postcard to give out at my event. Really appreciate the help.

Vortex, 300 dpi is the ideal size for printing and anything below 150 will look awful.

But when you're dealing with image sizing and you want to get a grasp of how large the images are in relation to each other, go into the Image Size window, ignore the dpi and just look at the actual dimensions of the image in pixels which should be the top two rows.

If you have two images, both 8" by 10" and image A is 300dpi and image B is 72 dpi, then you have a significant difference. Image A would be 2400 pixels by 3000 pixels while Image B is only 576 pixels by 720 pixels. Since a single file cannot be more than one dpi, if you were to cut & paste both of these images into the same document they would be radically different sizes (and their dpi would adjust to whatever the dpi of the pasted-into doc is).

In such a situation, find what size you need the 300 dpi image to be and then change the pixel dimensions of the 72 dpi image to match since there's no point enlarging the 72 dpi image more than you have to. Make sure you checkmark the 'Resample Image' option at the bottom of the Image Size window and choose the appropriate type (probably the one for enlargement given that you need to make the 72 dpi file larger, right?).

Now, here's the thing, you're going to get blurring with the 72 dpi file. It's unavoidable because there's just not that many pixels there thus there's not much actual information. Apart from ensuring you picked the correct 'Resample Image' option, you can try to run the Sharpen filter. Don't do it more than once though because that'll just make things worse. It's possible that you won't even want to use Sharpen at all but it's always worth a try. If you find a single pass of the Shapen filter is a little severe you can open the Edit pulldown and choose Fade and reduce the Sharpen to between 40 and 60%, that's what I often do. You have to choose Fade immediately after using the Sharpen Filter as it only works on the last operation that Ps performed.

Hopefully this is useful for further endeavors.

I forget who else was looking for cheap printers for occasional printing. I just picked up the Brother HL-2140 for $60. Office Max has a number of Brother printers at a huge sale price. I'm guessing a new line is coming out. Anyhow, it comes with a toner thing for 1,000 sheets, which should last me a LONG time. Just be aware, it does NOT come with a USB cable. Link to the sale [link] or stop by your local store.

Wow. Colour laser for $200. How times have changed.

Wow, that is a good price. I'm sorry I missed it. My eleven-year-old HP 6L finally died Tuesday. I replaced it with an HP P1006 for $100 at Best Buy. I just hope it lasts as long.

I was thinking about getting my daughter a cheap camcorder for X-mas. Has anyone had any experience with these Flip Video units?

[link]

It sounds like it would be good and simple to use. I'm not looking for the world's greatest quality, just something that would look ok as a web video or on standard definition TV.

I had one and I *loved* it for home movies. It died at the hands of my toddler on vacation in Canada (apparently you can only toss it into a lake so many times before it gives up in disgust), but I'll be getting another one just as soon as I have a little extra cash.

The only thing I really disliked about it was the mic placement - it's on the back of the unit so it picks up the person holding the camera instead of the person the camera is pointed at. But the video quality is really excellent for the price, and it's dead easy to use (it has about 4 buttons total). It can also take a fair amount of abuse - ours survived several drops onto the floor before the lake incident killed it for good.