My First Digital Question (Page 2): In my experience, printing very sharp 16 x 20s on my Epson Pro 3800, using a Canon EOS 60D, the LENS is the most important equipment when it comes...

cheineck Loc: Hobe Sound, FL

In my experience, printing very sharp 16 x 20s on my Epson Pro 3800, using a Canon EOS 60D, the LENS is the most important equipment when it comes to sharpness. Shoot RAW, use a post processing PhotoShop plug-in such as SuperSharpener. 30 x 40 should be in the realm of possibilities, but the Hassy make the most sense if you've got the spare change.

photocat Loc: Atlanta, Ga

I too am printing on an Epson 3800 or an hp 9180 using Qimage as the rip , but I am also using all high end glass and sharpen with Pro sharpner for paper type and viewing distance.

Photos are very sharp. If your doing studio work then the Hassy is terrific.

I had one years ago and didn't like it, but i was doing street work, not studio work . Big difference imho

KrazyKyngeKorny

Even the best digital available on the market does not equal film. That said, an 8 mp digital is good for 8x10, and sufficient for 12x15. 3mp is more thjan enough for web publication.

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

No, Just have it printed professionally. Do a cost benefits analysis and you'll see that you can easily save thousands by not printing them yourself and simply having a professional lab do them for you.

lvphotog Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Fidelity in the print is related only to the pixel resolution being delivered to print. 300 ppi is at the high end - I once heard that magazines print at 150 dpi - and will produce sharp images. Anything larger is wasted.

If you desire a 3"x5" print, you deliver a 900x1500 pixel image. That said, I have gotten many fine 12x18 prints from a 6mp image (3000x2000).

But if you're looking for a 24x36 print which yields no flaws when viewed from four inches, you're looking at 7200x10800, or a 78 megapixel master. I hit this number occasionally with multiframe stitched panos from my 12.6 mp camera. Processing a file that size is awkward with 8bit JPG and scales in difficulty with lossless formats.

The format of the image master makes no difference. If, though, you're extremely particular, a no-loss format like TIFF is marginally preferable to a lossy format like JPG, even with highest JPG quality selected. Due to processor and storage constraints, I rarely use TIFF.

Color fidelity is managed by taking into account your monitor profile and the profiles and technologies of the printer you're sending to.

But none of this addresses sharpness. Sharpness in the print is delivered solely by your lens and a steady hand.

cheineck Loc: Hobe Sound, FL

Additionally, and I have tried this with great success, if you have a shark image at say 11 x 14, increase your image size in Photoshop in 10 percent increments. You will be amazed at the detail this method retains as opposed to just enlarging the image in one big step.

Robinson5577

Where possible use the lowest ISO setting.
Where possible use the smallest F stop setting.
Use a tripod
Use a remote control shutter release.

Lowest ISO for highest resolution.
Smallest F stop for grester depth of field.
Tripod for the least shackiy camera handling.
Remote shutter release so that you are not likely to move the camera when activating the shutter.
Also use a delay shutter timer as it also reduces camera shake.

jjestar Loc: Savannah GA

Good Sharp Image to begin with
Raw to Tiff
A good print service(why buy)

rebeil Loc: florida

I only print up to 8 X 10 anything over I look in Shudderbug Magazine for some good prices, I don't think to many people do enough LARGE prints to justify the expense of a large format printer and paper and the ink

Birds in a tree
Birds in a tree...

jbirdmo Loc: Soon to be Chicago

RobertMaxey wrote:

Let me clarify.

Assume I own any digital camera. We will say Nikon and forgetting the sensors and mega pixels completely. Just a Nikon digital camera that produces digital files. Or Cannon or Leica or Fred's Wonder Camera, for that matter.

So here I am at my desk getting ready to deal with the images. I download the files to my PC and here I sit with several files, ready to decide what I need to do. What do I convert to or from? Do I create jpg/jpeg, tiff, RAW, or convert RAW to tiff, or perhaps do something else like send the printer a raw file or if that is even a good idea without some kind of processing.

What I need to learn is what specific file types give me the highest possible resolution and best quality print. Forget cost, printer costs, required software and all the rest. I have files and I want prints. What do I need to worry about or consider?

Also, forget printer brands and assume I can access any printer--either locally or mail-order. What do I look for as far as specs go? Do I look for a specific type of printer with the special capabilities? Feel free to mention ultra costly printers. I'll never purchase one, but I would like to know if one printer is a better choice than another. If the company printing the files uses a Wally World brand printer and a better printer would be a Linotype Mango 440, then I need to know what to look for.

I did my due diligence and opinions and ideas seem to vary. I am a confused film guy, but I think I want to learn more about digital. My goal is as much sharpness and fidelity as possible. Perhaps a few good books some of you could suggest or a web site that can help me struggle through the basics? Your opinions and thoughts are also welcome. Especially if I am overlooking something important or worrying about something that is more or less meaningless.

Some will say the camera matters and I agree. But, modern 6 mp cameras and a modern 8 mp cameras both create digital files and apparently, if I send a jpg to a printer I might not have as good of a result as if I sent a tiff file and a worse result if I sent some other format like a gif. Or something like that.

Obviously, if the camera created bitmaps and I wanted large prints; for example 30 x 40 inches, print quality would suffer compared to other formats. Just to pick a quick under educated example.

I know that a 78 PPI file will yield a terrible 30 x 40, and a 300-500-600-1200 PPI file at 30 x 40 would be much better. But what file type is best for ultra high quality, high resolution prints? Jpg, tiff, something else?

Thanks in advance for your help, if you choose to help.

Let me clarify. br br Assume I own any digital ca... (show quote)

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but it looks like what you're explaining is the question "how do I move from film to digital".

Under this assumption I'll give the following to help you specify your research better.

Full Frame digital camera = or > 35mm film in resolution
RAW file from FF digital sensor = 35mm film negative
Photoshop or Lightroom = Chemical Darkroom, for film negative development
Photoshop/Lightroom & Printer (local or offsite) = Chemical Darkroom , for print development

When shooting with digital the RAW file is the storage file just like negatives. It's only converted for the intended output. Such as, if you're displaying some work on the web, it will need to be jpg, but if your having it printed then there will be a whole host of options for you to convert the image once you've selected the printer. Photoshop or Lightroom can handle all of these conversions from RAW, so this is nothing that you really need to worry about ahead of time, and you only convert what you want to use. As long as you keep the RAW file, you can always go back to it and save it to another file type using the photosoftware.

---Jude

heltonjkv96 Loc: southwest Virginia

RobertMaxey wrote:

Let me clarify.

Assume I own any digital camera. We will say Nikon and forgetting the sensors and mega pixels completely. Just a Nikon digital camera that produces digital files. Or Cannon or Leica or Fred's Wonder Camera, for that matter.

So here I am at my desk getting ready to deal with the images. I download the files to my PC and here I sit with several files, ready to decide what I need to do. What do I convert to or from? Do I create jpg/jpeg, tiff, RAW, or convert RAW to tiff, or perhaps do something else like send the printer a raw file or if that is even a good idea without some kind of processing.

What I need to learn is what specific file types give me the highest possible resolution and best quality print. Forget cost, printer costs, required software and all the rest. I have files and I want prints. What do I need to worry about or consider?

Also, forget printer brands and assume I can access any printer--either locally or mail-order. What do I look for as far as specs go? Do I look for a specific type of printer with the special capabilities? Feel free to mention ultra costly printers. I'll never purchase one, but I would like to know if one printer is a better choice than another. If the company printing the files uses a Wally World brand printer and a better printer would be a Linotype Mango 440, then I need to know what to look for.

I did my due diligence and opinions and ideas seem to vary. I am a confused film guy, but I think I want to learn more about digital. My goal is as much sharpness and fidelity as possible. Perhaps a few good books some of you could suggest or a web site that can help me struggle through the basics? Your opinions and thoughts are also welcome. Especially if I am overlooking something important or worrying about something that is more or less meaningless.

Some will say the camera matters and I agree. But, modern 6 mp cameras and a modern 8 mp cameras both create digital files and apparently, if I send a jpg to a printer I might not have as good of a result as if I sent a tiff file and a worse result if I sent some other format like a gif. Or something like that.

Obviously, if the camera created bitmaps and I wanted large prints; for example 30 x 40 inches, print quality would suffer compared to other formats. Just to pick a quick under educated example.

I know that a 78 PPI file will yield a terrible 30 x 40, and a 300-500-600-1200 PPI file at 30 x 40 would be much better. But what file type is best for ultra high quality, high resolution prints? Jpg, tiff, something else?

Thanks in advance for your help, if you choose to help.

Let me clarify. br br Assume I own any digital ca... (show quote)

OMG....! ???????????????

RobertMaxey

jbirdmo wrote:

br When shooting with digital the RAW file is the... (show quote)

I disagree about what I need to know ahead of time. I have learned that good research prevents mistakes.

I guess what I only need to worry about is producing the highest quality RAW files. Apparently, most suggest RAW because they can be edited. Everything else is a matter of converting to a required file, purchasing a large printer or using a service.

Thanks for everyone's comments.

Guy Johnstone Loc: Ocean Shores WA

Tiff is industry standard and 300 is Min. resolution for say a print ad. Most printers will want 200 to 300. The file size will dictate the max print size.

Guy Johnstone Loc: Ocean Shores WA

just a note, a 8 bit 300 dpi 30x40" tiff is over 400 Megabits. a 60 mega pixel will produce only about 180

PhotoArtsLA Loc: Boynton Beach

If you do not know much about your camera, make sure the settings you are using offer the FEWEST possible images on your camera's card. This ensures you are shooting at maximum resolution, a requisite to getting the print quality you want. Always shoot at the MAXIMUM megapixels and in RAW mode, if your camera allows. Maximum quality JPEG is passable, but RAW and TIF are better.