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retcheto

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What's the largest print size you guys have done with a 24MP image? I've printed A3+ at home and it's great (13" x 19") but I want to send some images out to print larger and I'm wondering what the largest size that still looks good at a normal viewing distance would be.

 

Since printing large images can be pricey I don't want to do too much trial and error, any advice would be appreciated

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I ordered a 20 x 30 print, assuming because the UK went metric in 1973 that it would be 20mm x 30mm. When it turned up it was 20 inches x 30 inches!

(20 inches = 50.75mm, 30 inches = 76.25mm.)

 

It looks fantastic and has no visible grain. The shot was taken using my M240-P and wasn't cropped when developing the DNG using Lightroom.

 

So there is a starting point. I expect it could have been enlarged quite a bit more.

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I used quite a heavily cropped portion of photo from a Nikon D2x, which had a 12mp 16x24mm sensor, to make a 4x3 metre stage backdrop which is still used at annual music festivals. I'm sure larger prints exist from even smaller files.

 

It worked well because it's never seriously viewed close to, but usually from at least the depth of the stage, which means around 5-6 meters away at least.

 

So to state the obvious, how large you can go depends on a number of things but paramount among them is the intended viewing distance, as identified in the opening question. 

Edited by Peter H
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i have a 20 x 30 print of the eiffel tower i took w/ my Q (also 24MP) and it looks amazing -- sharp-- no grain -- no noise even when i am inches from the print.

 

20 x 30 inches or mm? You didn't specify so please clarify. The world is metric except for the US (plus miles and pints in the UK.) The US don't use correct the old Imperial measures. A pint is too small, so a gallon is too little. 4/5ths is not 5/5ths.

 

Horribly confusing for anyone outside the US or born after 1970 in the UK.

Having been brought up in the era of Imperial measurement and pre-decimal currency, I have to say a big hurrah for the ease of use of the metric system and decimal currency. 

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20 x 30 inches or mm? You didn't specify so please clarify. The world is metric except for the US (plus miles and pints in the UK.) The US don't use correct the old Imperial measures. A pint is too small, so a gallon is too little. 4/5ths is not 5/5ths.

 

Horribly confusing for anyone outside the US or born after 1970 in the UK.

Having been brought up in the era of Imperial measurement and pre-decimal currency, I have to say a big hurrah for the ease of use of the metric system and decimal currency. 

 

my apologies to the civilized world.. just an americancentric viewpoint... 20INCHES x 30INCHES

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Thanks for clarifying. You are civilised. I don't wish any disrespect.

 

The only reason I received a huge print was because the firm I used to do the print was part of of Hewlett Packard (HP) and HP are based in the US. Luckily for me it was actually a good choice because I love the print and it is on my study wall in an 85 x 64 frame (cm) which is perfect.

 

Anyway, I lived in France for a while and they still use Imperial measurements for plumbing and sell stone with thickness measured in "pouce". Pouce means thumb. The thickness of a pouce or thumb is one inch. It also seems clear that wherever I am in the world my tyres are measured in inches for the radius and metric for the tread. Bicycles in France are sold with pouce (inch) for the wheel size. 

 

Very confusing! Now, can you imaging trying to work out the cost of wallpapering a room 29 feet long, by 9 feet 7.5 inches high, by 16 feet 2.5 inches wide in Imperial measurements in pre decimal £ s d when wallpaper is 19 shillings and 6 pence 3 farthings a roll. A roll of wallpaper is 21 inches wide and you have to overlap by 1/4 of an inch. Good puzzle?

 

1 litre of water = 1 kilogram. I cubic meter of water = 1 tonne. At 0.10 of your local currency per kilo how much is a cubic meter of water? Much easier puzzle.

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What's the largest print size you guys have done with a 24MP image? I've printed A3+ at home and it's great (13" x 19") but I want to send some images out to print larger and I'm wondering what the largest size that still looks good at a normal viewing distance would be.

 

Since printing large images can be pricey I don't want to do too much trial and error, any advice would be appreciated

Highlight mine.

 

To visualize how your big size print will look, simply crop your picture accordingly and print 4x6. You can do the math for how many pixels to crop. Ex: to visualize 13x19, 4x6 print has to be made by cropping by 6/19 pixels on long side. You can even do same size crops from different parts of the picture and print multiple 4x6 since not every part has high frequency image.

Edited by jmahto
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Thanks for clarifying. You are civilised. I don't wish any disrespect.

 

The only reason I received a huge print was because the firm I used to do the print was part of of Hewlett Packard (HP) and HP are based in the US. Luckily for me it was actually a good choice because I love the print and it is on my study wall in an 85 x 64 frame (cm) which is perfect.

 

Anyway, I lived in France for a while and they still use Imperial measurements for plumbing and sell stone with thickness measured in "pouce". Pouce means thumb. The thickness of a pouce or thumb is one inch. It also seems clear that wherever I am in the world my tyres are measured in inches for the radius and metric for the tread. Bicycles in France are sold with pouce (inch) for the wheel size. 

 

Very confusing! Now, can you imaging trying to work out the cost of wallpapering a room 29 feet long, by 9 feet 7.5 inches high, by 16 feet 2.5 inches wide in Imperial measurements in pre decimal £ s d when wallpaper is 19 shillings and 6 pence 3 farthings a roll. A roll of wallpaper is 21 inches wide and you have to overlap by 1/4 of an inch. Good puzzle?

 

1 litre of water = 1 kilogram. I cubic meter of water = 1 tonne. At 0.10 of your local currency per kilo how much is a cubic meter of water? Much easier puzzle.

It does not feel my country is civilized any longer. But I do not disagree that metric is much better than imperial.

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I ordered a 20 x 30 print, assuming because the UK went metric in 1973 that it would be 20mm x 30mm. When it turned up it was 20 inches x 30 inches!

(20 inches = 50.75mm, 30 inches = 76.25mm.)

 

It looks fantastic and has no visible grain. The shot was taken using my M240-P and wasn't cropped when developing the DNG using Lightroom.

 

So there is a starting point. I expect it could have been enlarged quite a bit more.

Not trying to be a smart a.. , but when you talk about 20 mm x 30 mm prints, that would be about the size of your camera sensor :lol:

If you don't have a very small home with tiny walls you will be better off with 20 cm x 30 cm prints

The metric system can be tricky sometimes :p

 

mich

Edited by mich
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Not trying to be a smart a.. , but when you talk about 20 mm x 30 mm prints, that would be about the size of your camera sensor :lol:

If you don't have a very small home with tiny walls you will be better off with 20 cm x 30 cm prints

The metric system can be tricky sometimes :p

 

mich

:)

 

Jeff

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What's the largest print size you guys have done with a 24MP image? I've printed A3+ at home and it's great (13" x 19") but I want to send some images out to print larger and I'm wondering what the largest size that still looks good at a normal viewing distance would be.

 

Since printing large images can be pricey I don't want to do too much trial and error, any advice would be appreciated

 

The printed sharpness will depend on the depth-of-field in your captured image.

 

I have taken close-up baby photos with current 50mm Summilux-M ASPH at f/5.6 shot at about 4-5 feet subject distance.

 

(Wish I had my 50mm APO Summicron-M at that time).

 

 

Have made 30" x 40" prints on canvas that still look sharp at 3 feet viewing distance. 

 

 

They were a crop of 95% of the full frame as I was centering the image.

Edited by dugby
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Not trying to be a smart a.. , but when you talk about 20 mm x 30 mm prints, that would be about the size of your camera sensor :lol:

If you don't have a very small home with tiny walls you will be better off with 20 cm x 30 cm prints

The metric system can be tricky sometimes :p

 

mich

Where can I get 20mmx30mm printed? I normally shoot with wide lenses and this size is best to showcase wide and open American Wild West. Any idea what kind (and how much) of sharpening should I apply?

:)

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The US don't use correct the old Imperial measures. A pint is too small, so a gallon is too little. 4/5ths is not 5/5ths.

 

The US pint is 16 fl oz - a size that the UK used to use many moons ago, certainly at the time of the Founding Fathers. 

I haven't looked into why, or when, we changed to 20 fl oz here :)

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I believe it was a few years ago that a joint US-EU space mission of some sort lost a satellite or a remote vehicle, maybe it was a Mars mission. I remember that they traced the problem to a metric-imperial conversion somewhere along the line, so it's not just photographers that have trouble!

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Should be able to make huge prints with these files. I have two 30x40 inch metal prints from Bay Photo hanging at the office, printed from Micro Four-thirds files from my 16 megapixel E-M1. I have a 24x36 inch metal print of a sunrise taken with my M262 that looks fantastic. I plan to have a 40x60 inch metal print ($500) of an image I captured at Lake Louise in September with the M262 and 21mm Super Elmar and I have no doubt it'll be really nice.

Edited by Gregm61
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Big is not a problem - this one's paper size is 44x60" https://www.flickr.com/photos/sblutter/27594504639/in/dateposted-public/

 

Was printed using Piezography (pure B&W inks) - has no pixalization whatsoever - tack sharp (f: 2.8.  Summi 50 2.0 ver 4 )

 

To get it to that size in PS, uprez bit by bit to get to 720 psi using 'save details'

 

The reason for 44" is, that's the widest printer loaded with Piezo inks I have access to

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