Resolution for online printing

Craigus

Craigus

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1,562
Name
Craig
Edit My Images
Yes
I suspect that I am overthinking things as usual, but...

I would like to get a print done from DS Colour Labs at A3 size, specifically to fit a 12x16" frame. The website specifies 300ppi which is fine, but shooting with my 18mp 1200d my photos are 5184x3456 pixels. If you do the math of 12 (inches) x 300 (ppi) it comes to 3,600.

Now I realise that the ppi value given in the file actually doesn't affect it, it's just a number that printers sometimes look at, but I don't want a distorted image coming back.

To avoid any error or distortion in the print at their end, am I better off going for a slightly smaller print, or upscaling the image? Would the quality suffer at all if I were to upscale it?

Thanks.
 
IMO if the lab can upscale with any appropriate sharpening I would let them do it.

I experienced this with a lab I used a couple of years ago and the results were very good. (NB that printer went bust but set up again...... have yet to use them again but I learned that that route was a good option if the lab/printer offer it.
 
You can probably send them the image as is. Lightroom and many other similar apps can also resize an image to max planned physical dimensions at whatever pixel density you need when you export the image. Personally I'd just export it as an 8 bit TIFF without compression the 12X16 at 300dpi for them to print.
 
ecoleman said:
It will be fine. I used to get A3 prints from DSCL from my 10mp 40D
Click to expand...
^that

I have 18x12 prints from DSCL shot with my old 40D and they're fine.
 
Thanks for the responses.

Just to be clear then, If I crop the photo to the correct 12x16" dimensions in LR and export, they will print the photo at the size requested and the ppi will actually be lower? In this case doing the math it would be 288ppi. Or do they upscale the photo when they print it? If they do upscale, am I better off controlling that in LR/Photoshop or letting their software do it?

Sorry for the possibly silly questions but I've never been through this process before and would like to get the best possible quality I can. Thanks for your patience.
 
Craigus said:
Thanks for the responses.

Just to be clear then, If I crop the photo to the correct 12x16" dimensions in LR and export, they will print the photo at the size requested and the ppi will actually be lower? In this case doing the math it would be 288ppi. Or do they upscale the photo when they print it? If they do upscale, am I better off controlling that in LR/Photoshop or letting their software do it?

Sorry for the possibly silly questions but I've never been through this process before and would like to get the best possible quality I can. Thanks for your patience.
Click to expand...

I always upscale mine to 300 ppi so they get it at their native resolution.

Mike
 
I used to print about A3 plus from my old Leica and using a home printer. To me, it was absolutely excellent.
 
How's it look on your monitor? If it looks good to you then don't worry about it... even a 4k or 5k monitor is only running at ~ 220ppi
 
Last edited:
mike weeks said:
I always upscale mine to 300 ppi so they get it at their native resolution.

Mike
Click to expand...

Same here. Just had some A2 prints done from files from my 5DSr and 5Dmk2, and upscaled the mk2 files to 300dpi in Photoshop CC. The results were indistinguishable (although it wasn't much of an upscaling, but neither is the OPs).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top