Resolution for photocopies?

[mulvamj]

Hello everyone. Nube here. I want to make some cheap fliers with lots of photos, but we're going to photocopy them. What resolution should i make our digital photos in order to have them photocopy ok? I think someone once told me that a low resolution was best, so that they come out pixelated, which photocopies well. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[PrintDriver]

I used to use a plastic screen that made a pseudo-halftone pattern on images when photocopied. Worked pretty well actually.

It isn't low res you want, you want to print out using a halftone screen.

["Technical" Terry]

Digital copiers are pretty darn amazing these days. If you take your flier to a decent shop you should get good results as long as your flier is good to begin with. Color should be really good, but if you are going the cheaper route with b&w, make sure your pics have a lot of contrast. If they are mostly dark red, blue and black, the whole photocopied image will be black. I think that screening the images would just be an artistic look and wouldn't have a great impact on the image quality in photocopying. Good luck.

[doubting_thomas]

If you are going to be shooting off the glass 150 dpi is more than enough.
The trick is to be able to clearlly see the dots in the screens. If you have trouble
making them out, the copier will too. This'll cause variations in image quality.
Base model copiers work best if the screens are 85-100 dpi (like the model
at your local drugstore).

The high end copiers, like Xerox's Nuvera, can handle pretty hi res stuff. Photos
look really good, but still like copies.

[mulvamj]

If you are going to be shooting off the glass 150 dpi is more than enough.
The trick is to be able to clearlly see the dots in the screens. If you have trouble
making them out, the copier will too. This'll cause variations in image quality.
Base model copiers work best if the screens are 85-100 dpi (like the model
at your local drugstore).

The high end copiers, like Xerox's Nuvera, can handle pretty hi res stuff. Photos
look really good, but still like copies.

Sorry for my ignorance, but i'm not a graphic designer... What do you mean by "screens?" Can i just reduce the dpi in photoshop down to 85 dpi? I don't need super high quality stuff, just something that'll photocopy to a recognizable image. Thanks again for your help!

[doubting_thomas]

IIRC it'll be a setting in your print dialog box. Depends on your PPD. I'm sure
the effect could be emulated using Photoshop though.

[urstwile]

I think doubting_thomas meant to say 85-100 lpi, not dpi. General rule of thumb is that your dpi (resolution) should be two times your lpi (linescreen).