 Brendan Walsh |
The Largest Size Print For Canon 20D Hello everybody, I use a Canon 20D set at finest in jpeg. I would like to know what is the largest size print in inches, I can make without loosing quality. I know I can go as far as 8x10 what sizes up from this are safe. Thank you Brendan
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John Rhodes |
Brendan, You didn't say how you print your photos. Do you do your own printing or do you use a service, local or internet? Obviously, if you print your own, you are limited by your printer. As such, I gather you have someone else do your printing. I recommend you save a photo in various sizes, i.e. 8x12, 11x16, etc. and submit an order for one of each size. Compare the results to see how large you can go. I also would recommend if you shoot in lowest compression JPEG, you convert to a .tiff or .psd (lossless format) before doing any editing. John
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Andrew Laverghetta |
But if you're using a good program to interpolate, or create a file size biger than the figure above, you probably won't notice until getting up around 11x14 and then depending on what kind of photo it is, I'm sure you would be pleased with results going even larger. Lets say you like photos with a diffused dreamy look, you could make some poster size prints probably from this since there's not as much fine detail as there would be if you would have just left it sharp. I have a photo in my gallery that I made with a long exposure waving my cell phone (lit up) above the camera. It's mostly black with some streaks of blue/green going through it. Since that doesn't have that much detail to worry about, I'm sure that could be printed quite large as well. You'll have to make sure that the photo is very sharp though or else it's going to show. I have known a photographer to make some pretty large prints from his Kodak Pro/N and even though this is full frame 14 MP, I'm sure he had to interpolate quite a bit of info to be able to get some of the print sizes he has throughout his studio.
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David Earls |
If you're using Photoshop CS2, there is a very powerful up-res interpolator built into the camera RAW plug-in. While I haven't up-res'd any of my 20D shots yet, I up-res'd a number of 8mp shots I took with my Nikon Coolpix 8700 to 12x16" (4/3 aspect ratio on the 8700), and they were spectacular when printed on my Epson 2200 inkjet at 420 dpi. You can also up-res in Photoshop using the Bicubic Smoother interpolator in the Image Size menu, and it's frankly almost impossible to tell the difference between the two. I also tested a PS plug-in for up-res, and again, couldn't see any difference between its results and the up-res interpolators built into PS. Couldn't think of a reason to send them $99. I will be trying up-res on 20D shots when I get one worthy of being enlarged. I like the RAW up-res interpolator because then all the image edits that follow are applied to the up-res image. If these sound like arguments in favor of RAW vs JPEG and Photoshop in favor of other image editors, well - they are.
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roberthambleyphoto.com - Robert Hambley Contact Robert Hambley Robert Hambley's Gallery |
I routinely make 16x20 prints with the images from my Canon 20D. I use Mpix.com. I don't upsize them. Hope this helps,
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Justin G. |
One would assume you need some darn good glass and and ISO of 50 or 100 to get anything decent at that size. I'm sure ISO 400 or 640 for example isn't going to impress many people. Especially at galleries. Just a thought.
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roberthambleyphoto.com - Robert Hambley Contact Robert Hambley Robert Hambley's Gallery |
Yeah.. all of the ones I took to 16x20 where taken at ISO 100. (couple of them were actually from my old Digital Rebel as well).
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Brendan Walsh |
Hey Everybody, I just want to thank you so much. all this infor has been really helpful to me. I will be printing at 300DP1 and I am going to experiment a little after all of this great information thank you all again. Brendan
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Phillip Corcoran |
Hi Brendan. It's obvious from your last reply that you do your own printing, so really my next comment is irrelevant to you --- but just in case you do happen to take some images to a printing lab anytime, it's worth remembering most of the non-pro labs will only accept JPEGs, not TIFFs or other format. At least that's been my experience here in the UK. In such cases, I capture RAW, process and convert to tiff, complete any other edits like resizing and USM, then convert to highest quality jpeg and copy them to a CD which I then take to the printing service outlet.
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Brendan Walsh |
Thank you Phiip, As a matter of fact I am just getting ready to use a lab but as yet I just trying to get someone to reccomend a good one. I want to try and use FTP connection and send straight through. I was using an Epson 2100 to print my own but I have been having a lot of trouble with it and its taking a huge amount of time to get it serviced. I am not sure how much extra a professional lab would be as opposed to a service like you find at your local Shopping Center, I expect it will be far higher. If you have any advise in this area I would be most grateful for it. Your advise on shooting is very interesting. My camera can shoot in RAW but I have been using finest. I can also use both Raw and finest together but it becomes a little confusing when it comes to Photoshop. Up until now I have been saving in JPEG. I understand the compression problems and the loss, so I think I will save in Tiff from now on. Can I change a JPEG to a Tiff after saving in JPEG? Thanks again Philip Brendan
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David Earls |
Brendan, If you convert a JPEG to a TIFF, you will prevent any further pixel loss from future image edits. Most of the labs in this country can process 8-bit TIFFs, even the stanalone KODAK kiosks. Inkjet printers handle enlargement much differently from photo labs. As a lab-printed photo is enlarged, the image acquires a grainy texture. An enlarged image on an inkjet softens into a warm, painterly effect. Your nature shots would make spectacular inkjet prints.
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Brendan Walsh |
Thank you David I will be changing all my JPEG files to Tiff as of now. I appreciate the information in relation to Labd and Inkjet. Can you specify to a lab that you want your Images to be processed by inkjet? My problem is that I will need a lot of photographic prints done for my summer season and it would be really good to be able to just send them through an FTP connection and have them posted back. I really feel the need to trust the people I send them to and to be able to rely on very good quality image. I will continue to print my own but it will take a while to sort out this printer as well as the profiling. Regards Brendan
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Justin G. |
Converting JPGs to TIFFs is almost redundant. You've already compressed and lost quality by saving it JPEG so saving it TIFF won't do anything except stop the loss process. You should shoot in RAW, convert to TIFF so you never lose anything to begin with. Completely bypass JPEG altogether. IMHO
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Brendan Walsh |
Thank you Howie and Justin for some real great advise. I am very grateful. Your work is super. Brendan
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