Can anyone recommend an entry level digital SLR? I'm looking for something that's the next level up from a compact.

Be gentle with me on this one, I realise that I may have asked this before but I'm now ready to go to print with some photos and need a very gentle person to explain WTF all of this terminology means...


I have an original painting which is sized at 75cm x 50cm, there is an option to scan it but its only an A3 scanner so it would have to be manipulated and in any case I can't get to the scanner for a few weeks.

So I've photographed the image as follows...

Camera : Fuji S7000
"Quality" set to : 12m (4048x3040)

I've cropped the image in Photoplus and its reporting the following info ...

Print size 133cm x 88cm
Resolution 72 pixels/inch

I've printed the image onto A3 sized matt photo paper on an HP Designjet 30 six colour printer and it looks ok, but just ok.


I have some commercially produced images which were obviously scanned and are set at 300 dpi and the quality on the same printer is noticable, so my question is - is the scanner option always the best option or can my camera produce as good a quality image and what is 300 dpi and/or 72 pix/inch and is it possible to increase these settings with software ?

Canon and Nikon both do some top class entry level DSLR's (yes you CAN get other makes but why bother) I'm a Canon user so I'm biased, the 1100D is the starter camera and the 600D and the newer 650D are the next level up, both very good, if budget allows I'd get the best you can afford.

Before you commit to one I'd go to somewhere like Jessops and get hold of a few models, see how they feel in your hands.

Is that Photoplus the starter edition or the full version?
Sounds like Photoplus is is applying a set resolution to your crop and I don't know enough about it to sort it.

Try shooting in CCD-RAW and using something like The Gimp to import it, you can manipulate from there.

Canon 550d or 600d

If you want to be shooting anything and everything you may want to buy the body only and get the Canon 50mm f1.8 lens, really good lens at good value, arguably better than the kit 18-55 lens.

cue me being shot down by a pro pr1ck

A couple of macro shots from yesterday. A couple of beetle larvae... which I have been told are most likely to be one (of many types) of Harlequin ladybird.

A couple of macro shots from yesterday. A couple of beetle larvae... which I have been told are most likely to be one (of many types) of Harlequin ladybird.

Its the full version of Photoplus.

I've taken another photo using CCD-RAW and used GIMP to crop it and just apply some sharpening then changed the resolution to 300 pix/inch, the difference in the printed output is very noticeable, it now looks like a proper printed image with a good depth of colour however its reduced the image to less than A4 - may have to do a bit more tinkering I think.

After all of this I've got some A3 canvas textured paper on order so no doubt will have to start all over again when that arrives.

Looks like Photoplus was reducing the resolution as it cropped.
What is the native resolution of the RAW file?

Try 250 px/inch and it should scale up nicely without losing the detail.

To be honest I outsource anything to do with printing, far too much ballache.

My Pentax Kx is great (new model on market now) and it has the added bonus of being able to take most 1974 onwards film lenses without any adaptors (some have AF as well), which keeps the cost down a lot when wanting lenses. I got a brilliant 50mm older lens for £24 on e-bay and it is a cracking lens.

Photoplus is a great program, and one of the better features is the really good Help files, and added to that, Tutorials on the DVD. Have you looked at them? Here's an excerpt:


The size may also be your printer settings, or may be because Photoplus print options are reset each time PhotoPlus is restarted. Changes you make during a session are only "remembered" for the duration of the session.

I would suggest when your image is open in Photoplus you check the Image Size (from the main menu). If from here you size it up to A3 printed dimensions, and slide the slider to the highest quality, then Photoplus will produce a much better print than if you just use the original image and set your printer to scale the image up.