How big could I get a D90 photo printed?

[Big Mike]

You can print as large as you want...but you need to take viewing distance into consideration.

Someone mentioned a bill board, and that's a perfect example. Have you even seen a billboard sized photo from close up? It looks terrible. (I think I heard from someone who puts photo graphics onto buses, that it was printed at a ratio of 36 PPI.)

But when you back up to the proper viewing distance, the lack of resolution becomes less and less of a factor.

So you can print at 40" x 60", and it might not look perfect when you have your nose pressed up to it, it will look at lot better from 6 feet away. I've got a 50" x 30" Canvas print on my living room wall, that was made from an 8MP file from a 20D. From really close, I can tell that it didn't have a ton of resolution, but it looks fine from further back. But I'm the only one who knows or says that. Everyone else just love it.
And to be fair, canvas does help to hide some of the flaws because of it's texture.

 

[hankejp]

I print 20x30's all the time from my D90. Looks fine. I've never tried anything larger though.

 

[vansnxtweek]

I just printed a 20x30 from nation's photo lab just for the heck of it and it turned out amazing. Much better than I ever would have thought it could be..and I'm picky. The picture was an uncropped picture from my T2i (18mp).

I did also print a 20x24 that I had cropped a good bit and it still came out great. I think you would be just fine as long as its not heavily cropped.

 

[el_shorty]

I've printed up to 20x30's from my Nikon D70s, which is a 6MP camera, and they look great, and I never do any kind of interpolation. So you shouldn't have any problem printing a 30x40 with your D90, one thing that you have to make sure is that the image I sharp enough.

 

[KmH]

A great book that explains the ins-and-outs of sharpening photos is:
Amazon.com: Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom (2nd Edition) (9780321637550): Bruce Fraser, Jeff Schewe: Gateway



For resizing in Photoshop you have 5 image interpolation choices:

1. Nearest neighbor (the simpelist. Good for text)
2. Bilinear (had it's day, now virtually useless)
3. Bicubic (basic)
4. Bicubic Smoother (best for enlargement only if sharpening will be done after)
5. Bicubic Sharper (Prefered by many for enlargements, recommended by Photoshop for reductions).

 

[Fleetwood271]

I realize this is an old thread, but I just received a 24 X 36 today from Mpix and it looks great. It was taken with my D90.

 

[sobolik]

Use a chart such as this one Resolution & Print Size (2)

 

[KmH]

That link notes that

The data above is conclusive for inkjet printers.

Labs like Mpix don't use inkjet printers, they use chromogenic printers.

 

[Gabriella1973]

i had picturepicasso.com blow up a photo I had from a red bull air race, it was originally a 6mp size and made into a 36x48. they printed it on a glossy photo paper and it came out amazingly sharp, i was impressed.They have a free upload where you can send your picture to them and they will let you know how big you can make it, which is nice.