Put simply, you're confused by the way that certain software applications (e.g. Photoshop or scanner software such as Nikon View) allow the user to specify the pixel-dimensions of a destination image by specifying dpi and linear dimensions (in units that are not pixels - e.g. by requesting an 8 inch picture on the longest dimension, at 300dpi). The fact that these applications allow the user to avoid thinking in terms of the number of pixels per side in an image does not in any way alter the fact that the quality settings of a digital camera do not include manipulation of the dpi setting.
Digital cameras' size/resolution quality is only determined by file format (JPEG, TIFF, RAW etc.) and pixel-dimensions. JPEG usually has a sliding scale of "quality" values that the photographer can select, compromising picture quality against storage card capacity. The digital photographer cannot directly manipulate dpi in the camera, and even if it was possible it would be meaningless, since the pixel-dimensions of the file are what determine resolution. If you examine the Image Size dialog in Photoshop you will discover that it is possible to arbitrarily alter the dpi setting of a picture and in doing so, the pixel-dimensions of the picture will not change. It is merely a question of asking Photoshop not to resample the picture whilst altering the dpi setting. This is often a handy first step in performing a re-size in order to take a source picture and transform it into the correct number of pixels to print/show on a device at a given size. Photoshop allows the photographer the chance to perform this sizing operation without having to calculate the pixel-dimensions of the destination image. The second step is to re-open the Image Size dialog and turn on Resample Image, and then enter the dimensions in the desired units (e.g. 8 inches). Jawed ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe by mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], with 'unsubscribe filmscanners' or 'unsubscribe filmscanners_digest' (as appropriate) in the message title or body
