GordonBGood
Veteran Member
Rob, thanks for all your explanations. Could you answer a few more questions that have bothered me, while you are in the mood to help us:
1) Accepting that printing outlets are recovering their equipment upgrade costs by the initial prices which they are able to charge we digital image customers, why are large prints so many times more expensive per square area than smaller ones considering they are printed on the same machine?
Here in Thailand, the shop I use (Frontier 370) has just dropped their price for 4 X 6 inch digital prints from US$0.24 to US$0.17 in singles (from film costs US$0.15) with two or three cents off per print for quantities, which is pretty competitive. But why does it cost about 7 times as much for a 8 X 10 inch print when the area is only about 3.5 times larger? Or is it again just a matter that they can get away with it as one only prints the best at that size, making the market smaller?
2) Given that I post process all of my images using camera profiles and colour management, and am capable of producing interpolated images of any resolution required in any colour space, what is the best way to submit my image files to the printer for the best quality prints?
I get satisfactory results by just submitting at original resolution in sRGB colour space (it is said that is assumed when there is no embedded colour profile, and that the Frontier PIC driver may have a problem with embedded profiles). Would I get better results using a Frontier colour space? And would I get clearer images by pre-interpolating the images to the native resolution of the Frontier printer (I believe 300 dpi) using a superior algorithm such as Vector, Pyramid, or Lanczos with QImage, as QImages author argues ( http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/quality/ )? If these interpolation algorithms are better than that found in the PIC, at what resolution should I interpolate for 4 X 6 inch and 8 X 10 inch prints so as to perfectly print at that size without further interpolation? Is it possible to turn off interpolation at the PIC?
It was interesting to learn from your previous post that Frontiers have an intelligent compensation system that can read the EXIF from the image file. Maybe that explains why I had to reprint my picture of Santa Clauss, asking that all adjustments be turned off, as they had adjusted the brightness so as to blow out all the details in Santa's beard (I had left EXIF embedded in the image file after post processing). Do you know what adjustment this makes "intelligently"? And would you be so kind as to explain the meaning of the codes the Frontier printer prints on the back of the print? I would like to be able to be sure that the prints not being manipulated as I request with my order.
Thanks for all your help.
Best Regards, GordonBGood
1) Accepting that printing outlets are recovering their equipment upgrade costs by the initial prices which they are able to charge we digital image customers, why are large prints so many times more expensive per square area than smaller ones considering they are printed on the same machine?
Here in Thailand, the shop I use (Frontier 370) has just dropped their price for 4 X 6 inch digital prints from US$0.24 to US$0.17 in singles (from film costs US$0.15) with two or three cents off per print for quantities, which is pretty competitive. But why does it cost about 7 times as much for a 8 X 10 inch print when the area is only about 3.5 times larger? Or is it again just a matter that they can get away with it as one only prints the best at that size, making the market smaller?
2) Given that I post process all of my images using camera profiles and colour management, and am capable of producing interpolated images of any resolution required in any colour space, what is the best way to submit my image files to the printer for the best quality prints?
I get satisfactory results by just submitting at original resolution in sRGB colour space (it is said that is assumed when there is no embedded colour profile, and that the Frontier PIC driver may have a problem with embedded profiles). Would I get better results using a Frontier colour space? And would I get clearer images by pre-interpolating the images to the native resolution of the Frontier printer (I believe 300 dpi) using a superior algorithm such as Vector, Pyramid, or Lanczos with QImage, as QImages author argues ( http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/quality/ )? If these interpolation algorithms are better than that found in the PIC, at what resolution should I interpolate for 4 X 6 inch and 8 X 10 inch prints so as to perfectly print at that size without further interpolation? Is it possible to turn off interpolation at the PIC?
It was interesting to learn from your previous post that Frontiers have an intelligent compensation system that can read the EXIF from the image file. Maybe that explains why I had to reprint my picture of Santa Clauss, asking that all adjustments be turned off, as they had adjusted the brightness so as to blow out all the details in Santa's beard (I had left EXIF embedded in the image file after post processing). Do you know what adjustment this makes "intelligently"? And would you be so kind as to explain the meaning of the codes the Frontier printer prints on the back of the print? I would like to be able to be sure that the prints not being manipulated as I request with my order.
Thanks for all your help.
Best Regards, GordonBGood
