"When digital images directly downloaded from any digital camera show up in PC software such as Photoshop... the "image size" box shows this as 72 ppi ...   which, of course, is the optimum for a PC monitor.....   and it is easy to "save as" the image to 300 ppi or more...    but my question is whether the basic image we are starting with is 72 ppi.... or is that just a reading of how it shows on the monitor?

As you know, saving a truly inferior image to a 300 ppi or more resolution, merely demonstrates the pixelation in its worst form.

Bottom Line: what does 72 ppi mean in Photoshop after images are downloaded from digital cameras, because 72 ppi going to the printer invites disaster..."

I've grown attached to my digital SLR now that I've had one for 2 years. The D70 went everywhere with me and I have some great shots with it. My problem was that I'd also offered to take pictures at some friends' wedding this weekend, so I had to replace the D70 pronto.

The D70s would be the natural replacement, same camera mostly, and updated software - but along with my camera I'd lost all my compact flash chips, batteries, and everything - so starting over and choosing from scratch was an option. I still had my 70-300 Sigma zoom, but I'd decided I wanted a better long lens anyway, so it really didn't even matter if I stayed with Nikon.

I should probably explain that, while I'm one of the Internet pioneers, I really would much rather shop in a store than online, so...off I went to my favourite camera store to see for myself what were the current offerings.

There is, however, a way to get these tools under Windows and I'll get to that later in another part.

In this and later sections, I'll go into more detail, including scripts and references to the actual tools and how to use them.

Note that while I was doing a bit of research for this article, I came across the fact that they have a recall for the battery that I use in my D70 - the EN-EL3. See the note at the Nikon USA web site I phoned the Canadian support number and find that I can exchange it at their Richmond BC location rather than sending it in via snail-mail.

In this article I'm concentrating on the most typical storage medium for digital photos today, the CD/DVD.

We all use CDs - either by getting them produced from our film at the processing lab, or because we just don't have enough hard disk (or reliable enough computers) that we feel confident of keeping our precious photos safe "online".

When CD-Rs were first proposed as a consumer digital storage medium some seventeen years ago in 1988, they rode on the coattails of the original "pressed" CDs introduced a few years earlier as a distribution medium. The pressed CD is touted as having a longevity measured in centuries. The problem is, many CD-Rs we can purchase at the local computer supply store will last only from as little as a year to the typical 5-10 years; far shorter a period than most people expect. DVD-Rs (DVD-R and DVD+R) suffer from similar problems, so for now I'll lump them all in together - the only point of difference being that if you lose a DVD to age you can lose a lot more photos.

In essence, you trade the cost of film and processing (none with digital) for the cost of your time in winnowing out the bad shots from amongst far more taken at the time, as well as the cost of storing the images securely and quickly.

According to a statement published in another Blog Canon officially states, "In order to maintain our leadership position, we find it necessary to protect our intellectual property. Therefore, we have decided to maintain the confidential nature of the communication protocols of our digital cameras and the documentation of our RAW image data, among other things."

A look on the web found the dcraw program which does a wonderful job of converting the "NEF" format raw images from the Nikon to a format that I can work with on Linux with GIMP, Xview, and ImageMagic, my typical tools.

I spent much of a day looking at my options, and settled on the Nikon D70 for a couple of reasons. My choice has been more than amply confirmed by my first few weeks of use of it, despite the fact that I didn't get to Jamaica.