Donl

New to this blog and abit new to digital although decades ago I did shoot 4x5 film. My, how things have changed. And that's the source of frustration perhaps someone can help with. I spent months shooting scenery around the country with my Fuji Film S2000 HD - 10mp with file sizes mostly around 3648x2726 - some low as 1289 x 960. Was looking forward to settling down and printing some "really good" pics. To my dismay both a real camera store and a local lab of fine repute say my pics loose resolution (pixels start breaking apart) for 14x20 prints. Even 11x14 is disappointing. Been following recent threads on DOF and somewhat on sensor size but I dont get it. Do understand ISO, f/stop (aperature size) and ss relationships. Any thoughts on what has happened to my "really good" pics? Thx

gizzy.whicker Loc: Cumberland Co., Illinois

Hello Don. There are several things that can effect the quality of JPEG photos when you same them to disk. for one, each time you save a JEPG another time, quality is compromised. And then of course there are different levels of JPEG compression to worry about. The best course of action if you want to print without editing would be to transfer your photos directly from your camera to a CD or jump drive. 10mp is plenty large enough to print even larger than 14x20. If your camera uses a CF or SD card, take that directly to the photo processing store and let them download directly from the card. If you have Photo Shop, or a similar photo editing program, you can control the quality of JPEG when you save the edited version to disk. Hope this helps.

snowbear

Here's a link that gives a good chart:
http://www.design215.com/toolbox/megapixels.php

I have a 6mp camera and typically print 8x12, but have had a couple 11x14 prints done with no degradation. I'd ask what dpi they are using, and if it can be dropped a little.

LarryD Loc: Mojave Desert

Welcome to the Forum Donl,

The issue here is that the Fuji camera has a 1/2.3 size sensor. This sensor is about 1/4 the size of a typical DSLR. Further, this means, just like film, the (virtual) negative is considerably smaller and so you will see degradation the larger you try to make the print sooner than you would on these other DSLR cameras..

Now, starting to see degradation is a far cry from not being able to print large... just that it will not be as crisp as it may be at a 9x12.. Make sure that you are not unnecessarily cropping as this will further reduce available image pixels..

Print 'em up and decide if you can visually see any issues.. :thumbup:

Donl

Thanks, gizzy, info about each time saved compromises quality hits a nerve as I have created duplicate files as back-ups. Also, I have two directories in my chip. One captures my shooting, then after initial adjusting any contrast issues, etc. I transfer them to a separate directory in order for new shoots to stay separate until editing. Will transferring to separate directory on the chip give similar compromise?

Donl

Snow bear, thx, link looks helpful, now to study it.

Donl

Thx, LarryD; That hits something I was afraid of: sensor size I just became aware of. Thx for the info, now thinking about a Canon EOS Rebel 2Ti and, of course, here I go down the glassy slope.

tommyest Loc: N. Hollywood, CA

Always shoot in RAW. That gives you the best quality that your camera is capable of producing. After working in the RAW converter and PhotoShop, save the finished file as a JPG or TIF for printing. I shoot a D300 and routinely print over 20 x 30 with no problem.

George H Loc: Brooklyn, New York

Larry,
What are you planning to do with your photos? If you want to blow up your photos then get camera's with large MP sizes and think about better lenses. Having read your initial post size seems to matter to you but also the quality of the photo, expect to spend money.

Brucej67 Loc: Cary, NC

You can use resizing software OnOne "Perfect Resize 7" is one such product.

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

I don't think "copying" them to a backup source degrades anything unless you've opened the pictures in an editor and "saved" them to the backup.

Robert Loc: Round Rock, TX

This would be true if prior to saving the jpg was was edited and then saved. Just transferring images from camera to computer or making backups (even multiple) will not degrade quality. All Ones and zeroes. If it were the case, we'd have other issues with regards to data loss and not just in pictures.

Sensei

this may or may not work out for you, but I have taken photos from a 2 mg camera and managed to get an acceptable 12x 14 out of it by simply going into elements and then clicking on image and then re-size. you can than increase the size of the image by changing both the dimensions and the dpi. I wouldn't try it with portraits but on a landscape it worked quite well. I suggest yo do this with one photo and have it printed before you do something else

commodore-don Loc: Cleveland, OH

About 10 years ago, a friend of mine took pictures from the exact same spot, one in summer and the other in winter. Both were of a beautiful small lake in North-Central Ohio and were taken with a 2 MP Kodak camera. They were lovely shots and she wanted 20 X 30 inch prints so that she could have them matted and framed and hanging on her living room wall.

She took the digital images on a CD to a camera store. As soon as they discovered what the file sizes were they refused to do anything with them, telling her she would not be happy with the results.

She then contacted me to see if I could help her. I asked her if she had the original files as they had come out of the camera on the memory card. I had previously instructed her to always keep the original files unaltered or unedited because of JPEG degradation from multiple openings and saves in ones photo editing software. She had saved the originals and emailed them to me. I opened the pictures in Photoshop then saved them in Genuine Fractals Format (Now OnOne Software's Perfect Resize). I then reopened them as GF's and the software asked for the size I wanted. I selected just 30" wide and keep the original proportions. When opened in PS I cropped the pictures to the 3/2 ratio that the print wood be and then saved them as TIF's. I burned the huge TIF's onto a CD and took it to her. She than took it back to the photography store and had 30 X 20 inch prints made. She then took the prints to a custom framing shop, had them matted and framed in lovely cherry wood frames and hung them on her living room wall.

Nobody seeing those two lovely pictures would ever guess that they came from a 2 MP camera.

So here's another testimonial for Perfect Resize, formerly Genuiine Fractals.

drkeene Loc: Florida Gulf Coast

I am also new to this blog, and don't know if I will be able to offer anything new. Since we are talking about the need to save original jpegs as ultimate backup, why not simply keep the original SD card? For what it is worth, I use up a 4 GB card in the course of events every six months. When full, I download the card to Picasa and begin to perform triage on my photos. In addition I lock my used Sd card, and then file it (forever) in a standard white postal envelope on which I notate the dates covered by the card, and the major events, locations etc photographed. This becomes a primary archive. Of course, I also backup in the usual way, with an external hard drive that has its home in the safe... This seems to work for me, and the annual cost is simply that of two (or possibly more) SD cards.