Projected Images Not Sharp

[robali]

I finally bit the bullet and had my old 35mm slides digitized. After
laboring intensively, I put together several ppt presentations, using
powerpoint X. Now I project the presentations on a classroom screen and
they are not sharp (especially the photographs). The slides were
converted to jpegs, mostly in the range of 860x500. I hate to ask this
question, but will I need to have hundreds of slides re-digitized to a
higher resolution? (please tell me no).

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I finally bit the bullet and had my old 35mm slides digitized. After
laboring intensively, I put together several ppt presentations, using
powerpoint X. Now I project the presentations on a classroom screen and
they are not sharp (especially the photographs). The slides were
converted to jpegs, mostly in the range of 860x500. I hate to ask this
question, but will I need to have hundreds of slides re-digitized to a
higher resolution? (please tell me no).

I could tell you no but <NixonMask>it would be wrong</NixonMask>

Your projector and computer are probably set to 1024x768 or better, so the
images aren't really high rez enough to match even that relatively low
resolution.

Also, JPG is a reasonable format to use for inserting photos into PPT but it's
not the best "archival" format.

Better practice is to have the slides scanned at substantially higher
resolution, say 2048x1366 pixels or even double that and saved as TIFF or PNG
(both of which use lossless compression).

Keep those images intact, never edit them. Instead, make copies and downsample
them to a resolution and file format that's appropriate for your intended use.
In this case, try saving to JPGs at 1024x768 pixels or just a little higher
resolution.

Also, make sure your projector and computer are set to the same rez. Most
modern projectors will resample on the fly if the computer sends them something
they're not set for, but the results are not always pretty.


================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[robali]

Steve, thanks for the recommendations. The images are nice and sharp on
my 15" Powerbook screen, but when projected...Yuck!
I just bought myself an early Xmas present, a Sharp XR-10X projector.
The images are much better on it.
Rob