The quality of enlargement services.

[raftman]

I'm not particularly familiar with large prints or the processes involved with making them so I thought I would ask. Since I generally never make prints (all of my images are negative scans) I'm ignorant on the topic. However, recently people have been expressing enough interest in my photos that they've made offers to purchase prints... which of course is a very appealing idea. While I'm sure the images would look just fine as 4x6's or 5x7's, given that the place I go to offers sizes up to 8x12, would the image still retain the same sharpness and quality as seen in a 5x7 in that size, or would it somehow lose clarity like expanding a digital image from a smaller size to a larger in photoshop?

 

[MadMan2k]

It kind of depends on lens sharpness, exposure, grain and of course the resolution of the scan and the print.

A full res scan from one of the Fronteir machines that most photo labs use is about 8mp, 3600px wide, so about 2500dpi (36x24mm negative size). That's about 300dpi at 8x12, which is plenty. With a properly focused image without much grain, there shouldn't be any difference that you can see, other than size, from a 5x7 print. Going up to 20 inches on the long end the resolution would be 180dpi, and you shouldn't be able to see much, if any, difference between 300.

BUT - a 16x20 enlargement will show any flaws in the focus and lens sharpness, and the grain will be enlarged too, so an image from fast film will look pretty rough.

Basically, try it and see how your images look. Prints aren't too expensive most of the time. I have a picture I'm going to order a 16x20 of, and I'm going to get 8x10 prints from a drum scanned file with a LightJet, an inkjet with metallic and plain paper, and a traditional print to see which one I like better. I love getting prints of my photos, I always shoot in the hopes that one photo every few rolls will be printable.

 

[Dougg]

I agree; you just have to try it and see. Plenty of variables, and it helps to have some of them stack up in your favor... like good quality scans.

One ultimate factor in your favor is viewing distance... Typically larger prints are viewed from further away, where grain and lack of sharpness aren't as noticeable as from close examination.

 

[raftman]

Given that I've never done it before, how does it generally actually work if I only want specific shots from a given roll? Would they take a cut strip, and I indicate the frame number and then they return it to me with strip and the print or...?

 

[Dougg]

That's exactly how it works. 🙂 Many labs these days make a scan of your neg and then print from that, so you may get charged for the scan, and get a CD with the scan too.

 

[raftman]

Apparently if the print is to be made from a negative, the lab requires 5 days, but if an existing image is uploaded to their site, and a large print is made at the lab of it, it takes only 1 business day. Does this mean there would be a significant difference in the process and therefore quality or...?

 

[Dougg]

If the scan you upload to their site is a good one, with good color and tonal range, and with resolution high enough to give the print 150 pixels per inch or more, then chances are the print will look fine. My lab uses digital enlargers that print onto traditional color wet-process papers, not ink-jet, and the quality is excellent.