At what resolution and size should photos be scanned for optimum quality in iMovie or FCP?

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Gee Alfred, I know I'm not the wittiest of cucumbers, but...

720x480 (or 640x480) at 72 dpi. If you plan on changing the size of the photo, (ie: zooming in on it) scan at larger dpi.

[bradr]

If you're using iMovie, use 640x480. In my experience, if you use 720 x 480 it gets kinda squished.

This article www.2-pop.com/2pop20/library/articles/1999-12-02.html should tell you everything you need to know... maybe more!

[Padwan Learner]

Is there any reason I would not want to use a dpi higher than 72? Won't a higher dpi = superior quality? Thanks.

[scottiB]

Scanning at a higher resolution will give you a larger image than will fit in NTSC (720x480--which equals a 10 inch x 6.67 inch printed image @ 72 dpi). Scanning at 144 dpi (2 x 72 dpi) would give you an image equalling 1440x960 (which is better for printing but not a TV)--iMovie will scale this down to 720x480 anyway.

Say you wanted to pan or zoom (in/out) on an image (a la a Ken Burns documentary); in this case you would want a large image to zoom in (or out from) or a place to track to (say, the upper left corner to the bottom right--over a span of 5 seconds). iMovie can't do this, but Final Cut can (In iMovie, I've scanned an image a series of times, increasing the dpi each time. Then, I crop the area of the larger ones I want to use to 720x480. I import them into iMovie, arranging them from close to far--or vice versa--then use cross-dissolve transitions between them--a poor man's pan and scan)

Here are much better article than my rambling:
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage...scan_crop.html

and panning and scanning:
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage..._pan_scan.html

[ 03-04-2002: Message edited by: scottiB ]