Print sizes from Digital cameras

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madmike

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Hi there and Happy New Year to you all at PF.
Does anyone know what is the maximum print size possible from a Canon 20D and/or 5D.
Just a ball park figure really, ie say 6x4ft or whatever. The size I mean is one where the image has not started to break up at all.
Also, I recently took some photos with my 20D using flash that were quite a bit overexposed. I have tried all sorts of different PS progs but can't seem to improve things - any ideas anyone. Are there perhaps any specific download progs that could help?

Thanks,

Cheers,

madmike
 
Hiya Mike. Didn't you ask this question before? :Ponders:

On max print size opinions will vary depending on who you ask. I'd say that from a 20D a print size of A3, possibly larger, is perfectly reasonable to expect. As for absolute maximum size possible I don't know, but you'd have to go very large indeed before the pic started to break up to the extent that you could see the pixel construction. Bear in mind that the larger you go with a print the longer the normal viewing distance becomes, so if you're going to get your nose down on a large print, you may well find fault that you wouldn't see at normal viewing distance. The same was true of film anyway.

The 5D has a full size sensor but only 4 million extra pixels over the 20D, so you may well not see any appreciable difference from the 20D. With a digital sensor you have to quadruple the amount of pixels to double the resolution, so you're talking 1DSMk2 territory (16 million pixels) and five grand if it's really big prints you want to make. Did you have a print size in mind? :)

Re your over-exposed shots, it's hard to advise Mike without seeing them - posting an example would help a lot. It depends how over-exposed they are whether you can rescue them or not. Shooting in RAW format gives you the most exposure latitude.

Hope that helps mate. Sing out if not. :)
 
Hi CT,
I posted this question the other day but it seemed to disappear for some reason - anyway thanks for your reply. I'm sure A3 is no problem, but a friend for example has had a print from his top end Nikon blown up to 6x4 ft. I'm just interested to know if this sort of size is possible from a 20D/5D.
As for the OverEx, I normally use Raw, but for various reason did not on this occasion. I somehow set the incorrect ASA by one stop, but even after I corrected this, the pics were all overEx. As some of the subjects were wearing white the problem became more accute. I think digital seems to act a bit more like Transparencies in that they are particularly bad with Overex images.
Any further help or advice re both the above would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

madmike:confused-
 
Which top end Nikon does your friend have? Their very new D2X is their flagship model with 12 million pixels, but Nikon use only a 1.5X sensor, so while it has an advantage in pixel count, a bigger degree of enlargement would be required than either the 20D or 5D. Without getting into any Canon versus Nikon arguments, I don't think there'll be an appreciable difference at that huge print size, it's all down to how critical you are and the normal viewing distance, but the only way to be sure is order your print and see how it goes. ;)

Sorry to hear about your pics - they sound like they might be wedding shots? If you post an example people may be able to help!
 
Hi Again,
Yes the Nikon the friend has is a D2X - I've not seen the print yet but he reckons there is no breakup at all.
I have had an aerial photo from a 6x45 neg blown up to 8x10 feet and it looks great from a few feet away but it was of course pretty grainy.
The job I did was just a kids Xmas party so not that important, just a bit of a pain. I think I may have found a way to sort most of them out using Adob Photo Album.

Cheers,

madmike
 
madmike said:
Hi Again,
Yes the Nikon the friend has is a D2X - I've not seen the print yet but he reckons there is no breakup at all.
I have had an aerial photo from a 6x45 neg blown up to 8x10 feet and it looks great from a few feet away but it was of course pretty grainy.
Click to expand...

People tend to forget that exhibition print size from a 35mm negative was always considered to be 20 x 16 inches and it often wasn't easy to obtain a quality print at that size. :)
 
Another factor, straight from the camera anyway, is the pixel per inch (ppi) setting the manufacturers impose upon the digicam.

Nikon dSLRs are usually set to 300 ppi whereas Canon (I think) use 240 ppi. That means, even for the same size sensor/pixel count the Canon will always produce a bigger print.

Most compacts are set to 72 ppi so they go bigger still!

All this before you start fiddling in Photoshop or Paintshop, what-have-you :stir:
 
I posted this question the other day but it seemed to disappear for some reason - anyway thanks for your reply.
Click to expand...
That's odd. I was about to say I'm sure I replied to this thread already??
 
Thanks for your answers,but let me perhaps re-phrase the question!

What is the largest 'good quality' print anyone has produced.

A3 seems to be no problem - any advance on A3?
Are there any digital lab printers in PF?

Cheers,

Madmike
 
Mike if I were you I'd speak to a lab. I used to use Colab for my printing and they've been into digital printing since the early days so I'm sure you'll get a realistic answer. I'm sure there are other labs but Colab is the one I know best.

CLICK HERE
 
In that case - it all depends how far away from it you are!

Based upon the rule of thumb "a print should be viewed at 1.5x it's diagonal dimension" A picture 1 kilometer across the diagonal can be adequately viewed without any irregularites 1.5 kilometres away! :suspect1:

Whether you can get any body to print it though ......:banghead:

We've had 30" x 20" size from a 6 Metal-Pixie camera without a problem from Photobox who will print all sorts of sizes for reasonable money and they do a good job. There are other Photo Finishers, it's just I've used them with no bother!

Baz.
 
chuckles said:
We've had 30" x 20" size from a 6 Metal-Pixie camera without a problem from Photobox who will print all sorts of sizes for reasonable money and they do a good job.
Click to expand...
I had photobox print two 2mpx images at A3 size (20" x 16" i think?) as an experiment. I don't think I would have got away with anything bigger than that, but the results were very impressive.
 
A3 = 11.7 X 16.5 inches. (297 x 420 mm) I just checked a pack!

Photobox have an excellent reputation.
 
We've successfully printed up to 30" x 20" from Nikon D1x cameras - 6Mpi on a Kodak Pegasus printer - now obsolete, so there should be better out there now. This was the state of the art printer about 5 years ago.
Images were originally sized at 15 x 10 at 250dpi and the printer software interpolated up - Kodak advised this to prevent the software crashing.
After an upgrade about 18 months ago, it then became possible to size the images at the print size at 300dpi.
I routinely printed 20 x 16" at 300 dpi with no problems, no pixellation and true photo quality as you'd expect from a £60,000 printer.
I've not had the opportunity to print from the D2x yet as the only working large-format printer the Army has in the UK is down at Hereford, though there are plans to re-open the one at Land Command at Wilton, near Salisbury.
 
I have spoken to a couple of labs but could not get a particularly good answer, that's why I thought I would go public!
I also thought it may be of interest to other snappers!

There is so much talk of pixals and dpi etc that I feel actual print size possibilities are getting confused.

It would still be nice the hear from anyone who has produced really BIG prints!, and I'm especially keen to know about results from 20D/5D

Thanks for all your replies in any event.

Cheers,

madmike
 
A guy on another forum had a 10D image enlarged to fit on an advertising hoarding, approx 10 feet wide.

Using software like Photozoom Pro and Genuine Fractals, you can enlarge your image upto 800% without loss of quality.

All you need now is to find a graphics company to print it for you.:thumb:
 
Hi Arkady,
I guess size is relative to the eyes of the beholder!
I'm wondering how much bigger the prints get while still holding their quality if you see what I mean.
20x30 is quite big, but many exhibitions and displays need to be larger than that!

What about 36x48 say - has anyone got a good print that size from a digi camera?

Cheers,

madmike:Ponders:
I'm really not trying to be difficult, it's just a slow time of year and VERY cold outside!
 
Not a problem - printing bigger - and you'd have to use a proper repro centre - means you'll be viewing them from further away. No matter how big the image, it should be viewed as if it were an A4 page at arm's length-ish. a 20-foot high image should be viewed from 10's of feet away.
 
I came across this site on another forum.....looks quite interesting if you want to print a big image over lots of A4 or A3 pages :)
 
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