Best DPI for 5x7 digital file?

Question

I am looking to sell a digital image to a client. After much research and thought, I am going to sell them a 5x7 size, and the ability to print where they would like. My only question/concern is what DPI do I save this at so they can not print larger images. I just uploaded 3 files to Shutterfly, since they tend to tell me what will/will not work. I used 300 DPI, 200 DPI and 150 DPI. It seems that a 300 DPI (sized at 5x7) has no issue printing all the way up to 20x30. The 200 DPI has no issues all the way up to 11x14, and the 150 has issues at anything over 5x7. 

So it would seem that 150 would be the size, but I want to confirm with other photographers. What DPI would you recommend using? The file size just seems so small at 2.5 MB.

Picture Taker · Accepted Answer

While I strive for 300 ppi/dpi for good quality prints, it sounds like you need to stick to 150 dpi/ppi to limit the client's ability to make a good enlargement.  If your image is from a decent DSLR, 150 would produce a satisfactory print.  If it's from a point and shoot, it might be kind of dodgy.

This is kind of a Catch-22 situation.  If you were making a large print that would be viewed from at least 3-4 feet away, 150 would be fine.  A 5x7 will be viewed from 2 feet or less, so the quality would have to be high enough to be suitable for the close viewing distance.

Do your own local test of a 150 dpi image and see what you think.

Anonymous · Answer

Just shoot your images at the highest resolution (best or fine or something like that) and in the Large size if you have that option too. Once you get the images over to your computer you can adjust the DPI when you save the image as a new file name

sant kabir · Answer

The only way to do that is to give them prints and not jpeg images.

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Best DPI for 5x7 digital file?

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