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A printing job requires a 72x72" image. I shoot with a D700. Is there any way to get a quality print at that size from a D700?

Imre
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user11556
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2 Answers2

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It depends on a few factors - primarily the print technology that is going to be used, and secondly what the print is to be used for.

The D700 shoots at 4256 × 2832 (12.1 MP), so the largest Square frame you can print at 1:1 pixel ratio would be 2832 x 2832 pixels.

Lets say the print is to be at 600 DPI, which is a fairly standard high quality signage dpi, that would equate to only a 4.72 inch square print. at 300DPI a 9.44 inch print.

so the immediately the answer "No" comes to mind... However...

If you were to print a 2832 pixel width image at 72", each pixel would be printed at 0.645mm width, which is perfectly good for viewing at anything over a couple of meters away. I would suggest that the image is up-scaled 2x or 3x before printing - this will not increase quality but will smooth out the pixels (by making them smaller at print time)

Digital Lightcraft
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    600 dpi isn't 600 pixels per inch, but 600 ink dots per inch (per colour). Printing at 600 ppi on a 600 dpi printer would limit you to a 4-bit colour depth (16 colours), although you might be able to get 64 or 128 colours on some printers with variable dot sizes. 600 dpi is typical for 75-150 ppi images, which will usually look okay from more than a meter or so away. A 300 dpi print of a square crop from a D700, at a hair under 40 ppi for a 72" square, would be perfectly reasonable for signage. –  Sep 12 '12 at 15:36
  • Can you explain why you think the PPI / DPI of a printer limits it's output colour depth??? I print for a living and i can say without any doubt that my 64" printer, which prints up to 600 DPI is capable for FAR more than 16, 64, or 128 colours................ – Digital Lightcraft Sep 12 '12 at 19:05
  • if you print at both 600 dpi and 600 ppi, your printer will have to do some fancy dithering to print what looks like full colour. Think about how many colour values are available in a 1/600" square. Okay, maybe you're using a larger colour set than the standard CMYK (not typical for signage, but I'll give you that for thhe sake of argument). You only get one dot per ink colour for that square (pixel), and that dot may be on/off, big/small/off, big/medium/small/off, or big/medium-big/medium-small/small/off, depending on the hardware. (cont'd) –  Sep 12 '12 at 19:42
  • I've never come across a printer that has more than four dot sizes available. So you have a limited number of inks, and a limited range of intensities for each ink at a given location. That means a limited colour depth, no matter how you choose to look at it. If you print a 300 PPI image at 600 PPI, you quadruple the colours available per pixel. Make it 150 PPI, and you quadruple it again. There's a reason why desktop photo printers have such a high DPI resolution, and it's got nothing to do with detail -- it's all about the gamut. –  Sep 12 '12 at 19:47
  • I definitely see what you are saying but im sure the Epson systems i use, use dot overlap as well as dot size to exppand the available gamut. for example in B&W images they often use overlayed colour to create grey tones. – Digital Lightcraft Sep 12 '12 at 20:48
  • But that comes from upping the DPI. Epsons have a very high native DPI (1440 squared for many, many years; 2880 by 1440 for merely many years). I don't even know if the recent models can do true 720 or 360 DPI anymore; I'm not sure the nozzles will allow droplets big enough for true 360 DPI these days. It's still doing high drop/dot numbers; what changes is motor stepping. –  Sep 13 '12 at 20:00
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If the raw resolution of your camera is not enough for the intended viewing distance of the 72" x 72" enlargement, and your subject is static, you can apply panoramic photo tools and techniques to stitch together a image of virtually unlimited resolution.

Icycle
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