Can I get a 20" x 30" print from an Oly 4040Z?

What's the biggest print I can expect to get from an Oly 4040Z in HQ mode?

Are there fractal programs that allow bigger printing?

Chris

You can make very nice 8x10 with a 4040 in HQ mode and 16x20 prints using Genuine Fractals. Of course you can print as big as you want (and can afford) but if you figure 300 DPI for printing then you can calculate from there.

Bill

I am very interested in this question also -I use SHQ on my 4040 which I have printed A4 on photo-paper (stunning quality) and A3 through a printer (minimal loss of quality, no pixelation for non cropped images but a lightening of tones and colours generally).

I now have realized I have no interest in A3 printing but would be interested in slightly changing the question to:

On a print what is visable change in pic quality at 8 x 10 between HQ and SHQ.

It's just a matter of accetable quality. Acceptable quality will be effected by viewing distance, printer/ink/paper and personal visual acuity. I doubt a straight print that big will be acceptable, though.

The rule of thumb, whoever this thumb guy is, is that quality print should be 300 dpi and begin degrading when you go below this. Of course, I've seen people examining prints with loupes to discern differences. I figure that if you need a loupe to tell, who cares.

The quality of the printer will impact the decision on acceptable quality. I have had 16"x20" prints done on a Lightjet printer, with no quality degradation. The operator says you will not see a problem at 150dpi or above.

Calculate your dpi at the target size, if its below 150dpi, I wouldn't try it.

Genuine Fractals can overcome this problem. It works very well when starting with higher quality/resolution images. (If you've got a 1 megapixel image and try to make 8"x10" prints even GF won't help)

Find a pro lab that has a Lightjet printer. Create the image file with the aid of GF and the results should be acceptable if viewed from the proper distance. All I can say is that these printers can outperform any film based enlargement (OK, except Ilfachrome).

Is photoshop 7 capable of increasing resolution for larger prints? I don't have Fractals.

Kasey

Get Fred Miranda's "Stair Interpolation" plugin for Photoshop 7 (www.fredmiranda.com). It's like 10 bux.

Or get Qimage Pro from Mike Russell (www.ddisoftware.com) - it's around $30 - IMO, it is the best interpolation and printing program around. It's what I use. It uses Lanczos (sp?) interpolation.

Cheers

James

interesting thread, hope it keeps spinning.

Mike

Photoshop Plugins: www.fredmiranda.com

When photoshop "upsizes" a photo it can use the algorithms that come with the program or special ones that you can install called "plugins." Stair Interpolation is a very popular and very powerful plugin.

Lanczos is also a good one and it comes with Qimage Pro.

HTH

James

I've used it and even me, the guy who holds the print out at arms length and blurs his eyes to pretend the print looks good, can see how poor the results are.

Take James' advice and get another program. I have Genuine Fractals, but I'd try one these cheaper alternatives first.

Nice thread!

Next week I want to have some tests printed. To make a correct judgement (at a reasonable price) I want to have a print made from a part of a picture (using Nikon CP 5000). Enlargement should be made with several different interpolation methods without other chnges to the image.

Any ideas about the picture we need for this? For example size, colours, saturation etc?

I suppose I can blow up part of image so that it compares to as if we printed the original at 16x20".

If we find a "best" way of interpolation, would this be best for all pictures or would the best way depend on the picture itself?

People on the list which are using gf for one and star for another type of pictures???

kind regards

Edwin van Riel.