AboutJohn Wilson Expertise Over 25 years specializing exclusively in professional wedding photography. I can answer most questions relating directly to wedding photography concerning the business, film, digital, traditional & digital labs, marketing, effects, pricing & packaging, shooting outdoors and in-studio with multiple flash, color management and creating magazine style wedding albums. I can't answer questions regarding other fields of photography. I am a full-time self-employed wedding/portrait photographer. I can comprehensively answer most questions regarding portrait and wedding photography. I've operated a custom color and black & white photo lab processing films and photographic prints. I now shoot digital exclusively and process in Photoshop CS3.
Experience I have over 25 years experience working as a portrait/wedding photographer.
Education/Credentials School of hard knocks. Self-study. Purchasing all books I can find about portrait and wedding photography and attending photography seminars over the years.
Question What does dpi stand for and is more better? I'm trying to buy not the best but close to the best mini-lab photoprinter out but really don't know where to start. I will be using it at a high volume for a business selling mostly 4 x 6 photographs. Also could you tell me the best camera for this or give a range from best to worst on both the printer as well as the camera? I know this is probably a really wide ranged question but I really don't know where to start. Help!!!
Answer Hi Jay,
Thanks for your photography questions. DPI stands for "dots per inch". For photographic quality reproduction 300 dpi is the standard. Inkjet printers don't need such high dpi to produce the best "photo-quality" they are capable of.
You sound like you really do have a lot of questions and I'm left kind of feeling not knowing where to begin. For more comprehensive answers to specific questions you may have about operating a photo lab, purchasing/leasing lab equipment etc., I would like to refer you to the Photo Marketing Association. While I was operating my own photo lab and a member of PMA myself, I was provided their magazine which has lots of useful and informative articles about the photofinishing industry as well as access to marketing research and statistics. Their magazine is jam packed with lab equipment manufacturers advertising. Their website http://pmai.org/index.cfm/ci_id/1198/la_id/1.htm
Concerning your questions about the "best" printer and "best" camera that really depends on your particular demographic, business to business (B2B) or serving general consumers or some mixture of both, whether you will pursue online photofinishing business, the range of photo products you intend to offer and so much more. I'm also working exclusively as a wedding photographer now and haven't dealt with photo lab equipment in over 5 years. All I have now is an Epson 4800 Portrait Printer to run off panoramic signature mats and wall portraits when their needed in a hurry.
Hope I was able to provide you with some information that might be useful. Best regards,
