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biggest size print from D200 ?

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Stan-o-Stan

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hi there

anyone know the biggest size print i can get from a d200 file ?

i'd like to get up to 80cm width... ?

cheers

--
Stan-o-Stan
 
The largest I have made is 13x19 inches (329x483mm). I'm very happy with the results!

Jon
 
It all depends on how far you want to see the picture ... Years ago, I've printed about 150x100 cm from a D200 / 80-200 AFD 1 ring ... with a fairly decent result (the vertical one) :)



(Coolpix 5400)
Stan-o-Stan said:
hi there
anyone know the biggest size print i can get from a d200 file ?
i'd like to get up to 80cm width... ?
cheers
--
Stan-o-Stan
Click to expand...
--
Un saludo.
 
Hi,

You should shoot at ISO 100 and use Genuine Fractals or what ever its name has changed to, for interpolating to the number of pixels required to give you 300 pixels per inch in your final print. The size limitation on the print will be constrained by how close the viewers will be to the print and how sharp you need it to look.
Mel
 
I have prints framed all over the house at 18 x 24. They always get compliments for the sharpness. I think that that might be the limit unless you use geniune fractiles.
 
Like others have said, upto 18x24 yields sharp prints if your technique and glass is good. Beyond that sharpness begins to break down at close viewing distances. I want my prints to look very sharp when viewing upto one or two feed away and although I print upto 24x30 on occasion and I notice the softness except when viewing distance is increased.

BTW, I do my own printing on a 24" wide Epson 7880; for the D200/D300 16x24 is my most common print size. The ideal PPI I think is 240 but my low end threhold when upsizing is 180ppi. You can get away with as low as 120 ppi, but I agree with others that is pushing it to the limit for large prints.

Regards,
Mike
 
Do a search for posts by Roman Johnston. He has been printing and selling very large prints for a number of years; I recall that he started with a 6MP DSLR. You may be able to find some posts regarding his techniques (or you can PM him).
 
I had a Sony A100 which I think is the same 10MP as the D200. (Could it even be the same sensor?) I printed 20x30 (inches) once from it. I was happy with it. I did a number of 16x20's that I was happy with.

I was using LightRoom to create the JPEGs from the RAW source image. I have been pretty happy with LR's ability to produce JPEGs that are good on screen or printed.

Maybe I am just not picky enough or maybe LR is doing some magic, but I am pretty happy with any prints I do that correspond to 100DPI or more in the original. Other folks don't seem to be happy with those numbers. That's fine. They may be seeing what I don't.

I have printed from a D2x to 20x30 and to 12x30 (cropped vertically to make a panorama). The D2x has only slightly more resolution than the D200 and is from the same era as the Sony A100 and the Nikon D200.

20x30 prints are not free, but they are not really all that expensive and various places like Aspen Creek Photo and Mpix run specials periodically. It isn't free, but it doesn't have to be very expensive to find out what you think of a large image by just having one printed. If you like it, then you know you like it. :) If you don't, well, then again you know. I printed my first 20x30 just to "prove I could do it" figuring I could discreetly toss it if it was awful. :) I really liked it.
 
Didn't do a really big print from the D200 file (or D300) as most are used in electronic form or for prints in magazines / books / catalogs (max. double page spread) by my clients.

But I assume you can get pretty big depending on the kind of paper you use based on the experience I had from a print I made for my GF from one of her shots taken with a Nikon P60 (8mp P&S).

I had a panorama printed on canvas at 51.2"x25,6 (130cm x 65 cm) @ 240dpi. That means I upsized the original 3260 x 2450 ppi file, which is approx. 13.6"x10.2" (34.5cm x 26cm) @ 240 dpi, by a factor of 3.8 using Photoshop CS4 bicubic smoother option. The resulting print looks just stunning from 2-3 feet or further away. Getting closer you of course will start to see the limits of the original file quality used. But normal viewing distance for a print in that size will be 5-6 (or even more) feet anyway.

Now, that's on canvas, which of course helps hiding quality issues. But I assume that based on the quality of the D200 files you'll get great results up to about 50" (at the long side) at 300 dpi even on smooth paper (at 240 dpi probably even larger without a big loss in quality), but it will require good preparation of the file and an optimum file to start with.

One thing to remember is that the larger the size, the greater the viewing distance normally is.

Regards,
JH
JH-Pphotography
 
I use a D200 and have printed up to 24x36 and done some panos 48 long and they have won awards. I use CNX2 to process and the Qimage to print. Qimage does all the interpolation and sharpening and the prints turn out great. I have taken some smaller files off the internet and printed 13 x 19 and have been amazed at how nice they turned out. Once learned Qimage is a fantastic program
--
porchking
 
The print size GREATLY depends on the image and the means of output.

I just had a print made for the panel of a lighted sign for a trade show. It is 35" x 46.75" Looks amazing! And, I shot the picture with a D100. I've also done many 24" x 36" poster prints.

What people fail to take into account is that if you are making a large image, it isn't intended to be viewed from a foot or two away like a small print is.
 
rhpetersen said:
The print size GREATLY depends on the image and the means of output.
Click to expand...
True, and I have a nicely detailed 20x30 inch print taken with my D300.
rhpetersen said:
What people fail to take into account is that if you are making a large image, it isn't intended to be viewed from a foot or two away like a small print is.
Click to expand...
Not always true, I like to both step back from and to peer closer at my landscape and architectural photos. Landscape and architecture photos often invite the viewer to zoom in on detail, and if that detail disappoints then it effects the overall experience of the photo (for me, YMMV).

I would suggest that one good indicator of how much detail you want to capture would be how wide an angle lens you use. When you are enlarging a subject to greater than life size then generally you expect to view it from a greater distant; conversely, if your subject is smaller than life size, then you might often have an expectation of viewing it at a closer distance.
 
Back in the days of film, not many people expected a 35mm negative or transparancy to be printable in sizes over 32" x 48". That was with Kodachrome 25. Larger prints required 2 1/2 film or even 4 x 5 plate film. I guess the same would apply with digital.
 
jimofcan said:
Back in the days of film, not many people expected a 35mm negative or transparancy to be printable in sizes over 32" x 48". That was with Kodachrome 25. Larger prints required 2 1/2 film or even 4 x 5 plate film. I guess the same would apply with digital.
Click to expand...
Digital medium appears to have an advantage over film medium. Our 10-12 MP DX DSLRs are pretty close to what could be done with 135 format film and they are a couple of stops faster (ISO 25 film is easily matched by ISO 100), and the 12 MP FX DSLRs are dramatically better than the fastest films. At the other extreme, relatively small format MFDBs are a match for 4x5 film. In the middle, my A850 at 24 MP seems to be a comparable match to medium format film.
 
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