diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 727b88a..7ce20eb 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ Creating nice grid images from scans
 
     -w, --wells TEXT      restrict to this wells, * = all  [default: *]
     -e, --Exposures TEXT  restrict to this exposure ids, * = all  [default: *]
-    -s, --scale INTEGER   scale-up of images  [default: 3]
+    -s, --scale INTEGER   scale-up of images  [default: 2]
     --crop                create cropped images of each spots  [default: False]
     --help                Show this message and exit.
 
diff --git a/sensospot_grid/__init__.py b/sensospot_grid/__init__.py
index d4732ba..740a58b 100644
--- a/sensospot_grid/__init__.py
+++ b/sensospot_grid/__init__.py
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ def process(
     output_dir,
     wells="*",
     exposures="*",
-    scale=3,
+    scale=2,
     crop_single_spots=False,
 ):
     """process a complete raw data directory
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ def process(
     "-s",
     "--scale",
     type=int,
-    default=3,
+    default=2,
     show_default=True,
     help="scale-up of images",
 )