E-20 Testimonial

TomJ · Jan 3, 2002

Hi, all!

Well, after finally deciding to shoot one of my best portrait customer's annual family portraits digitally with the E-20 I must say my rerservations about making large prints with this camera are gone.

Started out in November. Went to their house out in the lovely North Texas countryside and shot about 200+ images with the E-20 and three rolls of 120 film with my Mamiya 645 as sort of back up. I had intended to do most of the shooting with film because this family always orders really big prints. Ended up doing most all the shots with the E-20...slow write times and all. Felt a little unsure after the session if I'd done the right thing.

Just got the final prints back from the local color lab in Dallas which uses a Durst Lambda digital printer. The family odered a total of 24 images including ten 20x24 inch prints, one 24x30 inch print, four 16x20 inch prints and the rest smaller 11x14 and 8x10 sized prints. Yes, a very nice order.

I used Genuine Fractals to scale up the images to the various output sizes at 300 ppi and this took some time even on a speedy G4 Mac with a gig of RAM. The results are simply amazing. The colors are dead on with the guide prints I made on my Epson 1280 inkjet and the detail and sharpness is really mind boggling. I honestly could not have done better by shooting all 645 film images on Portra film. The quality is very comparable, perhaps even better.

Here's a sample image of one of the 20x24 prints.

All the best,

TomJ

casey · Jan 3, 2002

Nice job TomJ
Just wondering what mode
did you shoot the photos in. Raw, Jpeg?

TomJ said:
Hi, all!

Well, after finally deciding to shoot one of my best portrait
customer's annual family portraits digitally with the E-20 I must
say my rerservations about making large prints with this camera are
gone.

Started out in November. Went to their house out in the lovely
North Texas countryside and shot about 200+ images with the E-20
and three rolls of 120 film with my Mamiya 645 as sort of back up.
I had intended to do most of the shooting with film because this
family always orders really big prints. Ended up doing most all the
shots with the E-20...slow write times and all. Felt a little
unsure after the session if I'd done the right thing.

Just got the final prints back from the local color lab in Dallas
which uses a Durst Lambda digital printer. The family odered a
total of 24 images including ten 20x24 inch prints, one 24x30 inch
print, four 16x20 inch prints and the rest smaller 11x14 and 8x10
sized prints. Yes, a very nice order.

I used Genuine Fractals to scale up the images to the various
output sizes at 300 ppi and this took some time even on a speedy G4
Mac with a gig of RAM. The results are simply amazing. The colors
are dead on with the guide prints I made on my Epson 1280 inkjet
and the detail and sharpness is really mind boggling. I honestly
could not have done better by shooting all 645 film images on
Portra film. The quality is very comparable, perhaps even better.

Here's a sample image of one of the 20x24 prints.

All the best,

TomJ

TomJ · Jan 3, 2002

Thanks.

Shot at ISO 80, 1:2.7 JPEG mode at full resolution.

My Mamiya 645 gear may be headed for eBay after seeing the results of these large prints. Truly amazing.

Take care,

TomJ

casey said:
Nice job TomJ
Just wondering what mode
did you shoot the photos in. Raw, Jpeg?

Richard Goulden · Jan 3, 2002

Hi Tom,

You'll be able to retire after an order like that....

The Epson 7500 is doing some sterling work for me right now. On a two head portrait I will go as far as 30x24 and when it has been matt heatsealed onto hardboard and framed they look great.

I wasn't so happy with a 36x24 of a wedding couple full length by their Vintage Rolls Royce. The heads just are not big enough in the shot to have enough pixels to resolve a human face. Maybe the interpolation on a Lamda will do a better job. The print at that size that I did is not bad at a sensible viewing distance but take a setp closer and it is not as good as I wouild like.....

I need a medium format Megavision back but at $25000 it is going too far. There was an example of an image posted a couple of weeks ago on the Pro Digiatl forum and it was stunning.

Regards,

Richard

TomJ said:
Thanks.

Shot at ISO 80, 1:2.7 JPEG mode at full resolution.

My Mamiya 645 gear may be headed for eBay after seeing the results
of these large prints. Truly amazing.

Take care,

TomJ

Member said:

Nice job TomJ
Just wondering what mode
did you shoot the photos in. Raw, Jpeg?

Click to expand...

Lesliec · Jan 3, 2002

I am impressed. I am one of those that learned digital first and now am learning about photography. So starting about 6 years ago with a Sony I have worked my way to the E-20. I only have one question. What settings did you use for that photo that you can get such a large print? Thanks for any help. Leslie

TomJ said:
Hi, all!

Well, after finally deciding to shoot one of my best portrait
customer's annual family portraits digitally with the E-20 I must
say my rerservations about making large prints with this camera are
gone.

Started out in November. Went to their house out in the lovely
North Texas countryside and shot about 200+ images with the E-20
and three rolls of 120 film with my Mamiya 645 as sort of back up.
I had intended to do most of the shooting with film because this
family always orders really big prints. Ended up doing most all the
shots with the E-20...slow write times and all. Felt a little
unsure after the session if I'd done the right thing.

Just got the final prints back from the local color lab in Dallas
which uses a Durst Lambda digital printer. The family odered a
total of 24 images including ten 20x24 inch prints, one 24x30 inch
print, four 16x20 inch prints and the rest smaller 11x14 and 8x10
sized prints. Yes, a very nice order.

I used Genuine Fractals to scale up the images to the various
output sizes at 300 ppi and this took some time even on a speedy G4
Mac with a gig of RAM. The results are simply amazing. The colors
are dead on with the guide prints I made on my Epson 1280 inkjet
and the detail and sharpness is really mind boggling. I honestly
could not have done better by shooting all 645 film images on
Portra film. The quality is very comparable, perhaps even better.

Here's a sample image of one of the 20x24 prints.

All the best,

TomJ

TomJ · Jan 4, 2002

Leslie C wrote:
Hi, Leslie.

The camera settings really have little bearing on the making of a large print since any file this camera can produce will have to be upsampled or interpolated up in size to print that large (20x24 @ 300 ppi) for instance. I generally shoot at full resolution and 1:2.7 JPEG compression.

I have been using Genuine Fractals, a Photoshop Plug in, for resizing and it seems to do quite well. The program saves the image as a new file type called ".stn" and so you must be sure your source (photo lab) can read these files or else you'll have to re-save them as TIFFs.

I can tell you if you start with a nice sharp well exposed and reasonably large file from an E-10/20 the softwaare seems to perform miracles.

Take care,

TomJ

Lesliec said:
I am impressed. I am one of those that learned digital first and
now am learning about photography. So starting about 6 years ago
with a Sony I have worked my way to the E-20. I only have one
question. What settings did you use for that photo that you can
get such a large print? Thanks for any help. Leslie

DF · Jan 4, 2002

Hey Tom,

Hearty congratulations, and thanks for the report.

Those are the kind of customers you certainly want for return business!

Clearly, as your case testifies, there are some who are not troubled by Exx noise.

Thanks again for sharing your success.

Best wishes,

David

Harry Lawson · Jan 4, 2002

DF said:
Hey Tom,

Hearty congratulations, and thanks for the report.

Those are the kind of customers you certainly want for return
business!

Clearly, as your case testifies, there are some who are not
troubled by Exx noise.

Thanks again for sharing your success.

Best wishes,

David
Hi Tom

IYou more less made have my mind up about buying E20, Really good photo and the subject regards Harry Lawson

--harry lawson

BigD · Jan 4, 2002

I live in the Dallas area, too. Can you tell me the name of the lab, I would like to give it a try? I also use the E-20 and am not suprised at the results you are getting. Don't you just love customers like yours, they are not easy to come by. Thanks for the post, very interesting.

TomJ said:
Hi, all!

Well, after finally deciding to shoot one of my best portrait
customer's annual family portraits digitally with the E-20 I must
say my rerservations about making large prints with this camera are
gone.

Started out in November. Went to their house out in the lovely
North Texas countryside and shot about 200+ images with the E-20
and three rolls of 120 film with my Mamiya 645 as sort of back up.
I had intended to do most of the shooting with film because this
family always orders really big prints. Ended up doing most all the
shots with the E-20...slow write times and all. Felt a little
unsure after the session if I'd done the right thing.

Just got the final prints back from the local color lab in Dallas
which uses a Durst Lambda digital printer. The family odered a
total of 24 images including ten 20x24 inch prints, one 24x30 inch
print, four 16x20 inch prints and the rest smaller 11x14 and 8x10
sized prints. Yes, a very nice order.

I used Genuine Fractals to scale up the images to the various
output sizes at 300 ppi and this took some time even on a speedy G4
Mac with a gig of RAM. The results are simply amazing. The colors
are dead on with the guide prints I made on my Epson 1280 inkjet
and the detail and sharpness is really mind boggling. I honestly
could not have done better by shooting all 645 film images on
Portra film. The quality is very comparable, perhaps even better.

Here's a sample image of one of the 20x24 prints.

All the best,

TomJ

TomJ · Jan 4, 2002

Sure, BigD.

I use The Color Place in Dallas. Those Lambda prints are not cheap, but they sure are pretty. Largest one so far from the E-20 was 24x30. I still cannot believe it was made with a 5MP camera! Looks as good as anything I have ever gotten from a Mamiya 645 Pro and Kodak Portra film.

Final file size was about 185 MB after scaling up with Genuine Fractals.

Good luck,

TomJ

BigD said:
I live in the Dallas area, too. Can you tell me the name of the
lab, I would like to give it a try? I also use the E-20 and am not
suprised at the results you are getting. Don't you just love
customers like yours, they are not easy to come by. Thanks for the
post, very interesting.

BigD · Jan 4, 2002

Thanks, Tom, it is good to know that The Color Place can do that good of a job from digital. To say that a 5 MP camera can compete with medium format film is amazing and you were using 2.7 jpeg compression at that. I would have been satisfied to compete with the best 35mm, but your results go beyond what I had expected. Great! It looks like my E-20 could get me by for several years. Can you tell us a little about the work flow you use with the E-20 in natural light, meter usage, determination of exposure, white balance, etc?

TomJ said:
I use The Color Place in Dallas. Those Lambda prints are not cheap,
but they sure are pretty. Largest one so far from the E-20 was
24x30. I still cannot believe it was made with a 5MP camera! Looks
as good as anything I have ever gotten from a Mamiya 645 Pro and
Kodak Portra film.

Final file size was about 185 MB after scaling up with Genuine
Fractals.

Good luck,

TomJ

BigD said:

I live in the Dallas area, too. Can you tell me the name of the
lab, I would like to give it a try? I also use the E-20 and am not
suprised at the results you are getting. Don't you just love
customers like yours, they are not easy to come by. Thanks for the
post, very interesting.

Click to expand...

Tom Meeks · Jan 4, 2002

I am REALLY impressed by that image. It really caught my attention immediately! Nice job.

Tom

TomJ said:
Hi, all!

Well, after finally deciding to shoot one of my best portrait
customer's annual family portraits digitally with the E-20 I must
say my rerservations about making large prints with this camera are
gone.

Started out in November. Went to their house out in the lovely
North Texas countryside and shot about 200+ images with the E-20
and three rolls of 120 film with my Mamiya 645 as sort of back up.
I had intended to do most of the shooting with film because this
family always orders really big prints. Ended up doing most all the
shots with the E-20...slow write times and all. Felt a little
unsure after the session if I'd done the right thing.

Just got the final prints back from the local color lab in Dallas
which uses a Durst Lambda digital printer. The family odered a
total of 24 images including ten 20x24 inch prints, one 24x30 inch
print, four 16x20 inch prints and the rest smaller 11x14 and 8x10
sized prints. Yes, a very nice order.

I used Genuine Fractals to scale up the images to the various
output sizes at 300 ppi and this took some time even on a speedy G4
Mac with a gig of RAM. The results are simply amazing. The colors
are dead on with the guide prints I made on my Epson 1280 inkjet
and the detail and sharpness is really mind boggling. I honestly
could not have done better by shooting all 645 film images on
Portra film. The quality is very comparable, perhaps even better.

Here's a sample image of one of the 20x24 prints.

All the best,

TomJ

Lesliec · Jan 4, 2002

Thank you, Tom. I have used Genuine Fractals in the past; Maybe it is time to re-learn it. Currently it is not loaded in Photoshop. I will definitley dust it off. I love my camera, but am still learning alot about photography in general. Your portrait of the child is beautiful, color comp..everything. As long as people like you are gracious enough to share your knowledge people loke me will continue to enjoy our "hobby". Thank you again. Leslie

TomJ said:
The camera settings really have little bearing on the making of a
large print since any file this camera can produce will have to be
upsampled or interpolated up in size to print that large (20x24 @
300 ppi) for instance. I generally shoot at full resolution and
1:2.7 JPEG compression.

I have been using Genuine Fractals, a Photoshop Plug in, for
resizing and it seems to do quite well. The program saves the image
as a new file type called ".stn" and so you must be sure your
source (photo lab) can read these files or else you'll have to
re-save them as TIFFs.

I can tell you if you start with a nice sharp well exposed and
reasonably large file from an E-10/20 the softwaare seems to
perform miracles.

Take care,

TomJ

Member said:

I am impressed. I am one of those that learned digital first and
now am learning about photography. So starting about 6 years ago
with a Sony I have worked my way to the E-20. I only have one
question. What settings did you use for that photo that you can
get such a large print? Thanks for any help. Leslie

Click to expand...

grc · Jan 5, 2002

HI,

One of the A3+ (17" x 12" approx?) prints I enterd in our camera club competition was thought by the judge to be taken with medium format. It was, of course, taken with the E10

Regards,

GRC

BigD said:
TomJ said:

I use The Color Place in Dallas. Those Lambda prints are not cheap,
but they sure are pretty. Largest one so far from the E-20 was
24x30. I still cannot believe it was made with a 5MP camera! Looks
as good as anything I have ever gotten from a Mamiya 645 Pro and
Kodak Portra film.

Final file size was about 185 MB after scaling up with Genuine
Fractals.

Good luck,

TomJ

BigD said:

I live in the Dallas area, too. Can you tell me the name of the
lab, I would like to give it a try? I also use the E-20 and am not
suprised at the results you are getting. Don't you just love
customers like yours, they are not easy to come by. Thanks for the
post, very interesting.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

TomJ · Jan 5, 2002

Sure,

Not really anything special as far as the workflow is concerned. I have my camera's contrast and sharpness settings set to normal after some experimenting with low/soft. Just a personal preference really, I seem to have to do less tweaking in Photoshop this way. When shooting active subjects outdoors (like children) I generally use the shutter priority mode of the E-10/20 and just from years of experience keep my speeds in a range I feel I can hand hold pretty steady unless I am doing some panning shots of kids on swings or running where a slower (1/15 sec or so) shutter speed can produce some nice intentional motion blurs.

As for metering, I find the ESP mode works pretty well most of the time outdoors, but sometimes I'll switch to spot mode or use exposure compensation if my exposures seem to be coming out a little over or under. I use the histogram religiously. It's often not easy to make a really good judgment of exposure on the LCD screen image alone outside, but using the histogram will tell you if you are at least "in the ball park" and then there will be no disapointing surprises when you download to the computer.

I find auto whitebalance does a pretty decent job outdoors most all the time. I generally only select a manual setting when shooting indoors under flourescent or incandescent light without flash.

Hope this is what you were curious about.

Take care, and thanks for all the nice comments!

TomJ

BigD said:
Thanks, Tom, it is good to know that The Color Place can do that
good of a job from digital. To say that a 5 MP camera can compete
with medium format film is amazing and you were using 2.7 jpeg
compression at that. I would have been satisfied to compete with
the best 35mm, but your results go beyond what I had expected.
Great! It looks like my E-20 could get me by for several years.
Can you tell us a little about the work flow you use with the E-20
in natural light, meter usage, determination of exposure, white
balance, etc?

mike cascagnette · Jan 9, 2002

I am going from a cp950 to an E-20 and I am sort of putting the cart before the cow so to speak by starting out learning photography digitally and I was what kind of flash cards you use and also where you store all those humongous files

BigD said:
TomJ said:

I use The Color Place in Dallas. Those Lambda prints are not cheap,
but they sure are pretty. Largest one so far from the E-20 was
24x30. I still cannot believe it was made with a 5MP camera! Looks
as good as anything I have ever gotten from a Mamiya 645 Pro and
Kodak Portra film.

Final file size was about 185 MB after scaling up with Genuine
Fractals.

Good luck,

TomJ

BigD said:

I live in the Dallas area, too. Can you tell me the name of the
lab, I would like to give it a try? I also use the E-20 and am not
suprised at the results you are getting. Don't you just love
customers like yours, they are not easy to come by. Thanks for the
post, very interesting.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Search

E-20 Testimonial

TomJ

Guest

casey

Well-known member

TomJ

Guest

Richard Goulden

Senior Member

Lesliec

Forum Enthusiast

TomJ

Guest

DF

Veteran Member

Harry Lawson

Member

BigD

Active member

TomJ

Guest

BigD

Active member

Tom Meeks

Senior Member

Lesliec

Forum Enthusiast

grc

Guest

TomJ

Guest

mike cascagnette

New member

Keyboard shortcuts