Large prints from digital files???

chroix · Apr 2, 2005

I've been shooting with a D70 for about a year now and have built up a large collection that I'd like to make some big prints(3x4') of. Any advice???someone told me I could output to a slide and then scan the slide or print from the slide.. sounds like a pretty ineffeicient process to me..

NikonChick · Apr 2, 2005

Yeah...well good luck with that.
To have slides made; its still just copies of files with res thats too low. You cant create res thats not there without distortion, regardless of medium. Your only real option to output that large is to get a 4x5 or 8x10 view camera and reshoot.

Digital Matt · Apr 3, 2005

It all depends on the shot, and how far away it will be viewed, and what your standards are.

I've printed up to 20"x30" from a 6.3mp file, and they are nice. I'm not sure about 36"x48". Print one and see.

tr0gd0o0r · Apr 3, 2005

There are also fractal programs you can get that will allow you to blow up pictures. they save color information as algorithms instead of pixels, its a pretty interesting idea. I don't know any off the top of myhead tho. (I'd also suspect that 36x48 wouldn't look all that bad w/ a D70

Christie Photo · Apr 3, 2005

I don't know of any benifit of adding a generation to the process. I routinely make 20x24s from my 10D files. Sometimes I have to do some cropping first. I gotta tell ya... I'm always amazed at the results.

Mumfandc · Apr 3, 2005

chroix said:
I've been shooting with a D70 for about a year now and have built up a large collection that I'd like to make some big prints(3x4') of. Any advice???someone told me I could output to a slide and then scan the slide or print from the slide.. sounds like a pretty ineffeicient process to me..

Well, I know there are programs like Geniuine Fractals which are suppose to let you enlarge without too much image degradation.

If you get Chromira prints online, by a company like westcoastimaging.com...they claim their Chromira printer interpolates your images smoother than doing so in Photoshop.

Digital Matt · Apr 3, 2005

I used genuine fractals a few times, and compared prints resized by it, and photoshop, and really saw no difference. Maybe if I had gone bigger than 20x30 the difference would start to show. I don't know.