Beginner What size should I print at?

Dannyj1984

Dannyj1984

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Danny
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sorry if this has been asked before, I am sure it has but can't find anything on the search option. I have a Nikon d7200 with a 50mm sigma 1.4 lens, when I take photos and zoom into 100% in Photoshop they are pin sharp still, I am trying to find out what size I can safely print at without loosing quality, I shoot in raw and then edit and save as jpg in Photoshop. ( not sure this is the best way to do it) looking online see all kind of answers, and I loaded my photos onto a canvas printing website and it said poor quality at 20 x20 inches :/

Thanks for any help :)

Danny
 
Digital images are in pixels by pixels, Print images are in cm by cm (or inch by inch).

So you need to do some easy maths.

For "best" print quality most people seem to recommend 300 pixels per inch with 240 per inch being very acceptable - I have had success down to 150 pixels per inch for family snaps...
 
usual rule of thumb I work to is that for pictures to be viewed at "arms length" I try and keep to around 300dpi per inch (pretty much the same as the resolution my printer works at)

so for a full-frame uncropped picture from your D7200 - that's 6000x4000 pixels - that'd equate to 20"x13 1/3".

Of course, if it's something that's going to be shown on a wall, and viewed from a couple of yards away, then you can relax the 300px per inch a little - i've plenty of stuff that's printed at 120px per inch that look fine, as long as you're not examining them with a loupe.
 
Thanks Brian, I get really confused with how the Nikon d4s is only 16mp........according to Photoshop my 4000x6000 pixel photo if changed to inches would only be 18x11 at 300 pixels per inch? Is that correct?

Thanks
 
Dannyj1984 said:
Thanks Brian, I get really confused with how the Nikon d4s is only 16mp........according to Photoshop my 4000x6000 pixel photo if changed to inches would only be 18x11 at 300 pixels per inch? Is that correct?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Yes(ish), but as above, you won't really need 300dpi at those sizes. And if I was being contrary, on canvas you'd never be able to tell at 150 or lower.

If you want to beat the upload message, do your own interpolation to resize, if they'll let you, they would just print it fine though. My album design software does similar for full page spreads, but they look fine once printed.
 
Yeah, I don't understand it lol. It says the image is 6000x4000 then if I change the image size to be in inches it says 18 x 11. Ah well. If I was printing a portrait or landscape photo to go on a wall for someone else what ppi resolution would be best? 300 or could you drop lower if it is on a wall and not going to be looked at from a few cm away

Thanks
 
I recently printed a bunch of stuff, variously all around A2/A3 size (up to 18" x 24" or so). I hit 300ppi where possible, but the lowest was about 180ppi and it looks absolutely fine.
 
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180 vs 300 ppi file will only be noticed if using top labs with top printers and high quality paper. If you print in likes of asda or max spilman I would really doubt you will see any diference at all. Plus ofcourse as mentioned above the size of the print and the viewing distance is the key too.
 
The biggest I've printed is A3 and my 8mp Canon 20D produced files that look good at A3 to me and anyone who's seen them.

If in any doubt before doing a big print it might be worth sizing the image accordingly and then just printing out small sections to check the quality.
 
Dannyj1984 said:
sorry if this has been asked before, I am sure it has but can't find anything on the search option. I have a Nikon d7200 with a 50mm sigma 1.4 lens, when I take photos and zoom into 100% in Photoshop they are pin sharp still, I am trying to find out what size I can safely print at without loosing quality, I shoot in raw and then edit and save as jpg in Photoshop. ( not sure this is the best way to do it) looking online see all kind of answers, and I loaded my photos onto a canvas printing website and it said poor quality at 20 x20 inches :/

Thanks for any help :)

Danny
Click to expand...


Don't save the final copy as a JPEG unless you absolutely need to. Always save as a PSD or 16bit TIFF for the final copy. If you need a JPEG for online use you can save a copy as JPEG, but always keep the finished file as a TIFF. JPEG is a lossy compression format and loses quality.

Your images should easily print at 20 x 2o inches. If the site said low quality, then you're doing something wrong when you save your images.

Can you post up a copy of the JPEG you sent to the printers so we can see what you're doing wrong?

You can print whatever you want, as bi as you want, but to retain quality at all viewing distances, I'd suggest A2 would be a realistic maximum. 20x20 inches should be easily achieved from that camera. You simply must be doing something wrong when working on/saving the image.
 
Yeah I think I must of saved it incorrectly in Photoshop, I tried another and it worked fine :) thanks for the help

Danny
 
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