a6k Loc: Detroit & Sanibel

Gene51 said:

Viewing distance is the most important component in this question.
It's hard to predict the viewing distance. I said this in the original post.

..snip..

with 4000x6000 - you should have no issues with sharpness and detail printing at 65 ppi. A print that is 48x96 will have an average viewing distance of 13 ft, and with even 30 ppi you will never see the fine detail you see on your computer display. 65ppi is more than twice that.

Do not obsess over ppi for this - your 4000x6000 image has more than enough pixels to look good. At 65 ppi, you're image will look fine as close as 4.5 ft.

As noted, I'm planning to use 150. If I did not upsize it would work out to 83.

Resampling is NOT going to add detail that is not there to begin with. It will slightly improve noise and ant-aliasing, and add back a little microcontrast, but most large image print labs will have a hardware RIP (raster image processor) which will likely outperform anything you can do with software on your computer.

I really have no knowledge of what the printer shop can do but I once showed, on UHH, that a 2X upsize with CaptureOne was almost indistinguishable from the original. Hoggers agreed. No, it won't add detail but it will interpolate very well. In my experience it beats ON1 and some other special purpose apps for that. I'll stick with what I know works.

I tried to limit this thread to what I asked and to avoid all the extra advice, no matter how well intended.

a6k Loc: Detroit & Sanibel

Thanks. Good stuff. I did chat with Whitewall and their price for Fuji Crystal paper was very reasonable. I'm trying to avoid canvas because I want to avoid lost detail. Metal at that size is maybe 5X the price of paper but paper must then be mounted. For now, I'd guess that metal exceeds his budget.