Hi,

A couple who is expecting a baby just sent us scans they made of printed
sonograms. I wonder if it makes a difference which file format one selects
for scanning a black and white print of a sonogram. And what resolution (in
dpi) would you suggest?

Of course, the image resolution of a sonogram is not very high, but the
subject matter and any detail is extremely important.

One scan was a 300dpi PDD file; the other two were 150dpi BMPs. On-screen in
PaintShop Pro 9, they look about the same, but the 300dpi scan printed
denser on my 1200dpi black and white laser printer.

I suggested that the couple save the original scan as a TIF, since PDDs are
not universally recognized. But I'm not sure what the pros and cons are of
the BMP format.

Any suggestions? Thank you.

Orrie

On Oct 29, 1:55 pm, "Orrie" <canspamEB3...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> A couple who is expecting a baby just sent us scans they made of printed
> sonograms. I wonder if it makes a difference which file format one selects
> for scanning a black and white print of a sonogram. And what resolution (in
> dpi) would you suggest?
>
> Of course, the image resolution of a sonogram is not very high, but the
> subject matter and any detail is extremely important.
>
> One scan was a 300dpi PDD file; the other two were 150dpi BMPs. On-screen in
> PaintShop Pro 9, they look about the same, but the 300dpi scan printed
> denser on my 1200dpi black and white laser printer.
>
> I suggested that the couple save the original scan as a TIF, since PDDs are
> not universally recognized. But I'm not sure what the pros and cons are of
> the BMP format.
>
> Any suggestions? Thank you.
>
> Orrie


As long as they did a good scan you are alright with any format, TIF
and Jpeg are the most universal but any image file can hold the data.
BMPs are basic bitmap files, they don't hold as much info as a TIF
does, but still can be used. On screen all the images will look
similar but I would suggest using the image with the highest ppi, the
Photoshop PDD file. The sonogram is printed on thermal paper often
from a Sony printer. More often offices are now giving out files as
the systems become more digital. Due to the low res nature of the
image you, if you are printing this you won't have a problem, just
keep the shadows from blocking up.

Tom

On Oct 29, 1:55 pm, "Orrie" <canspamEB3...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> A couple who is expecting a baby just sent us scans they made of printed
> sonograms. I wonder if it makes a difference which file format one selects
> for scanning a black and white print of a sonogram. And what resolution (in
> dpi) would you suggest?
>
> Of course, the image resolution of a sonogram is not very high, but the
> subject matter and any detail is extremely important.
>
> One scan was a 300dpi PDD file; the other two were 150dpi BMPs. On-screen in
> PaintShop Pro 9, they look about the same, but the 300dpi scan printed
> denser on my 1200dpi black and white laser printer.
>
> I suggested that the couple save the original scan as a TIF, since PDDs are
> not universally recognized. But I'm not sure what the pros and cons are of
> the BMP format.
>
> Any suggestions? Thank you.
>
> Orrie


As long as they did a good scan you are alright with any format, TIF
and Jpeg are the most universal but any image file can hold the data.
BMPs are basic bitmap files, they don't hold as much info as a TIF
does, but still can be used. On screen all the images will look
similar but I would suggest using the image with the highest ppi, the
Photoshop PDD file. The sonogram is printed on thermal paper often
from a Sony printer. More often offices are now giving out files as
the systems become more digital. Due to the low res nature of the
image you, if you are printing this you won't have a problem, just
keep the shadows from blocking up.

Tom

300 dpi gray-scale should be fine. JPEG is fine, but don't
over-compress, in fact if you see ANY image degradation due to use of
JPEG, you are over-compressing.

PDD???? do you mean PDF??


Orrie wrote:
> Hi,
>
> A couple who is expecting a baby just sent us scans they made of printed
> sonograms. I wonder if it makes a difference which file format one selects
> for scanning a black and white print of a sonogram. And what resolution (in
> dpi) would you suggest?
>
> Of course, the image resolution of a sonogram is not very high, but the
> subject matter and any detail is extremely important.
>
> One scan was a 300dpi PDD file; the other two were 150dpi BMPs. On-screen in
> PaintShop Pro 9, they look about the same, but the 300dpi scan printed
> denser on my 1200dpi black and white laser printer.
>
> I suggested that the couple save the original scan as a TIF, since PDDs are
> not universally recognized. But I'm not sure what the pros and cons are of
> the BMP format.
>
> Any suggestions? Thank you.
>
> Orrie
>
>
>