dino21 Loc: McAllen, TX

I have a silly but important question to me I hope you can help me with. I have a Nikon D7200 that I am taking with me to a very special spot to take a panoramic shot that I intend to have enlarged to a very large size. Should I have the settings on the camera to take a RAW and a fine jpeg photo or is that even the settings I need to be messing with. This is a rare opportunity for me to take this photo and I want to make sure it is enlargeable.

Haydon

RAW offers far more flexibility than JPG when editing. IMO if you want to take full advantage of a panoramic, shoot in RAW with a 50 mm mounted on a tripod and stitch a series of panned shots into a single DNG using Lightroom.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

A panorama is no different than a single shot = RAW

dino21 Loc: McAllen, TX

Yea but that doesnt tell me anything. After I have the photo captured in RAW, how do I save it to a format that online photo developers will be able to use in order to print an enlargement that will be of high quality and I will not recieve the message that it I should shoot with more pixels? Does it have to be in JPEG format before I can submit it to them to enlarge?

dino21 Loc: McAllen, TX

Yea but that doesnt tell me anything. After I have the photo captured in RAW, how do I save it to a format that online photo developers will be able to use in order to print an enlargement that will be of high quality and I will not recieve the message that it I should shoot with more pixels? Does it have to be in JPEG format before I can submit it to them to enlarge?

dino21 Loc: McAllen, TX

Then what do I do with it after that?

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

You should provide more information - print size, subject matter, lens(es) you own and plan to use, tripod and head, etc etc etc.

If you have to ask about camera settings and whether you should shoot raw and jpeg, realistically speaking, you need to be prepared for a possible disappointment. If you can practice shooting before hand, doing a panorama, as raw, stitching and editing the panorama in software like Lightroom, Photoshop, Panotools, Microsoft ICE - you will greatly improve your chances of success.

I am not trying to rain on your parade, use providing a bit of a reality check.

dino21 Loc: McAllen, TX

Yes I know, but I am sure that what I am using as a tripod, head, etc are all secondary to the questions I am asking. I know that using a tripod is a must but I am also sure that a legitiamate question is to whether it matters in what setting to shoot in order to have the maximum possible pixels should be a simple question. You say shoot in raw which I know lets you work with the picture as far as adjusting it but if you will read the question, how do I take the raw and save it into something that an online lphoto developer will not send me something to say I need more pixels? It seems that the answer above is nothing helpful at all. REagardless of what size of a print, what the subject matter is or what lens I am using ......what do I need to be concerned with as far as taking the picture in the first place..... Yes I know how to shoot a raw picture...its saving it to something with the best pixels that I need to know.

Pixeldawg Loc: Suzhou, China

All your work, regardless of the end results, should be made in RAW format. I shoot RAW+JPEG because often I have clients who want an immediate proof for their comp work (putting the concepts together with photo, text and layout) while I process the higher quality version from the RAW file.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

You don't need to use a tripod, but it can help in some situations.

The pixel count doesn't change with file format. You can shoot jpeg or raw and you will have the same number of pixels. If your image is of average contrast and does not require much post processing, you can use jpeg. If you anticipate high contrast lighting, it may be best to shoot raw for more and better post processing options. But if you already know how to shoot raw, you already know what the benefits are of shooting either format. If you shoot raw, you know that you will need to convert that file to a jpeg or tiff for printing.



A raw file must be converted to a bit mapped image in order to be printed or viewed. When you edit a raw file you are not editing the image. You are editing the instructions (metadata) that creates the image that you can actually see and print. The preview you see on screen is not the actual image, but a small preview of the image to allow you to see the results of the changes you are making.

You have not provided the physical size of the image you are hoping to print. The size of the print has EVERYTHING to do with how many pixels you need. Viewing distance will determine how many pixels you need.

http://www.photokaboom.com/photography/learn/printing/resolution/1_which_resolution_print_size_viewing_distance.htm

Getting the "best pixels" really depends on the print lab you select and what media you want to use. They will answer your questions about how many pixels and what format they need to get the image in for maximum quality. You will need to decide what media you will be printing on - metal print, canvas, fine art paper, vinyl, etc. Some labs, like Bay Photo, suggest that when their client wants work printed onto fine art media, that the images be submitted as 16 bit Adobe RGB. That would be the "best pixel" based on their setup for fine art printing. Other labs using an ultra-wide gamut Roland Symphony printer might ask for an image in ProPhoto color space.

In your case you need to consider all of the above, to determine what you need to do with the camera.

For example, if you want to print a 36" tall 72" long panorama, you "need" about 40 ppi - which would require your image to be a minimum of 2880x1440 px, or 4.2 mp. Yes, that is all you need. The human eye cannot resolve fine details at a distance, and larger prints generally require greater viewing distances. You've seen the billboards advertising the iPhone's camera - those billboards are created with actual images from the 8 and 12 mp iPhone camera.

All of the questions I have asked will have some influence on the approach and the result.

I read your question and what I see is someone who is completely in over his head, lacking some very fundamental knowledge and skills (shooting raw, stitching a panorama, converting raw to a raster file, post processing, ppi requirements for large prints, etc), making some wild assumptions about what he needs (and doesn't need) and making poor judgement calls on what constitutes good and bad advice, with a hefty dose of arrogance thrown in for good measure.

I sincerely wish you the best of luck in your quest to get the answers you are looking for. There is nothing more I can do to help you - I have tried my best - even though I have done exactly what you are hoping to do many times over the past 51 yrs I've spent as a photographer.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Part of shooting raw is giving the shot basic editing that it doesn't get in camera (as opposed to jpeg which does get in-camera processing). Apart from the stitching to create the panorama, it'll need basic sharpening and denoise plus contrast and saturation adjustments, and that's before you start dealing with any problem aspects of the shot (highlights, shadows, possible colour casts etc).

If you don't feel confident giving it that kind of processing from scratch, use jpeg Fine and export the finished panorama at the highest quality. Jpeg will be one of the options that the company doing the printing can accept.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Shoot in RAW. And obviously shoot in standard full 24MP mode. Are you talking about a Stitched Panorama made from multiple different exposures or a panoramic image made from a single exposure and cropped to look like a 4:15 or something cropped image? If you plan do a stitched Pano like I have, buy, or borrow the sharpest Prime Nikkor FX 50mm f/1.4 or 35mm f/1.4 lens you can. If you want a single shot cropped Pano, you will need an excellent Prime WA Nikkor DX lens for your D7200, say 10mm to 14mm. Again the best you can buy or borrow. Process to TIFF files. Your final out put file for printing can be a High Res (16-bit, 300 or 600ppi) TIFF if your lab can use it or if not a Highest Res (8-bit, 300 or 600ppi) JPEG file. Someone else can explain how to set the actual physical size in pixels for the print you want, say 48" x 180" Print. There are all kinds of other issues too like DNG and PSD files, a tripod, cable release, spirit level, what type of printing, and paper, color space such as sRGB or AdobeRGB, etc.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Contact the company that you are going to use to print the picture and ask them their requirements

BebuLamar

You have 24MP off the D7200. I bet if you send even a 6MP file to a lab and ask them to print any size they will not tell you that you don't have enough pixels to print large.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

1. RAW (no need for jpg)
2. Set the camera on a tripod so image is level across the range of photos you take.
3. Shoot in manual so exposure does not change as you move camera (although you can correct this later in post).
4. Take vertical shots, overlapping about 20-25% or so.
5. Create pano prior to processing shots, use Lightroom, PS, or other software.
6. Process as needed.
7. Export to size as needed and dictated by your print shop, most likely in jpg as that is the standard in most cases (your original file size will be the size of the combined photos and large enough to print very big if needed).
8. You can use a mid-range lens or a longer lens, best not to use a wide angle.
9. I've even shots panos hand-held, but not the best advice to follow as that often means using PS to hand-stitch together.