Beginner Printing from Smartphone(s)

[Forkbeard]

I'm due an upgrade and wondered if anyone has had anything printed from their phone? I had a Moto G4 and the camera was pretty decent up to a point, but I had a few prints done and they looked less than brilliant even at 5x7. I would like to get something a bit better, capable of printing a bit bigger. Is this realistic with a phone camera?

 

[Craig1912]

Yes- just google iphone photos- you can get prints up to poster size easily.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/test-centre/mobile-phone/best-phone-camera-2017-3612824/

 

[viewfromthenorth]

I printed A3 from a Samsung S7 and they were ok. Not as good as from a proper camera but they were acceptable.

 

[Harlequin565]

I've printed A3 comfortably from an iPhone 6.

 

[ancient_mariner]

As much as anything it may be down to how you prepare the image before sending it for printing.

 

[Forkbeard]

I just

I've printed A3 comfortably from an iPhone 6.

Sounds good, I've opted for a Lumia 950 (yeah, I know) so shouldn't have any problems.

 

[rjbell]

The g4 has a good camera it has good dxo score. Can you show us the image you had printed that you wasn't pleased about. It shouldn't have a issue at 5 x 7 if conditions were ok.

 

[Forkbeard]

The g4 has a good camera it has good dxo score. Can you show us the image you had printed that you wasn't pleased about. It shouldn't have a issue at 5 x 7 if conditions were ok.

This is the image, but I've just discovered it's cropped down to 8mp. I must've cropped it and forgotten. Oh well. The phone met with an untimely death anyway so still needed replacing.

Vale of Edale

 

[huxleypiggles]

What is wrong with the image - seems good to me?

 

[Forkbeard]

What is wrong with the image - seems good to me?

It seemed to lose a lot of detail when it was printed, it looked really blocky and I don't know why.

 

[Forkbeard]

Deleted: Duplicate.

 

[Harlequin565]

What size were you printing it at?

And when you say 8MP - do you know the dimensions?

 

[Forkbeard]

What size were you printing it at?

And when you say 8MP - do you know the dimensions?

I did two - one at 5x7 and one at 8x10, dimensions: 3536x2340.

The 5x7 was better than the bigger one, but still not great.

 

[Harlequin565]

3536/300dpi = magazine print quality at 11 inches. Should be able to get a great A4 from that... I've printed game screenshots at 2560x1440 to 10x15 inch A3 which is about 170dpi and they won't stand close scrutiny but look great on the wall.

It may not be down to simple resolution. It could be over-sharpening, or some other post processing artifacting that means that while the resolution is high enough, the print doesn't look great.
It could also be that you have excellent eyesight, or that your definition of "less than brilliant" is the same as my "pretty good".

How are you printing them? Home or lab?

 

[Forkbeard]

3536/300dpi = magazine print quality at 11 inches. Should be able to get a great A4 from that... I've printed game screenshots at 2560x1440 to 10x15 inch A3 which is about 170dpi and they won't stand close scrutiny but look great on the wall.

It may not be down to simple resolution. It could be over-sharpening, or some other post processing artifacting that means that while the resolution is high enough, the print doesn't look great.
It could also be that you have excellent eyesight, or that your definition of "less than brilliant" is the same as my "pretty good".

How are you printing them? Home or lab?

They were done at the lab and all the others I've had done (from camera, not phone) have been fine. I don't think my eyesight is any better or worse than anyone elses, but maybe you're right about the processing - dunno. Oh well, the phone has gone anyway and my new one's turned up.

 

[Forkbeard]

just had a look at the prints again, and the 5x7 doesn't look too bad, just a little bit over sharpened. The 8x10 though looks bad and there's no two ways about it. There was probably a bit more cropping involved between the two sizes/ratios.