Max Print Size for Landscapes

[bran8]

I am wondering if some light could be shed on the max useable print size for landscapes taken with a 5dii/5diii. I have looked over another post on this forum that discussed this topic and have read some of the links provided, but am still left wondering a few things:

          1) The link that was given referencing a tutorial on Adorama's website suggested that the print size be limited to the pixel dimensions divided by 135. That would give a roughly 42" x 28" print (rounded up) printed at 240 dpi for the 5d mark ii. My question is, how accurate is that assumption? What if I print at 300 dpi?

          2) How much of an advantage does someone using a d800 (or for that matter a 46mp Canon when the time comes) have over someone using a 5dii when printing at say 45" x 30" or 60" x 40"? Anyone with experience printing landscapes from a d800 vs. a 5dii/iii?

          3) What do you find the best program is to enlarge landscape photos? I have Perfect Resize 7, but have found that I like the results from CS6 better. I feel that Perfect Resize 7 gives results that look more like a painting (on the screen, I have never printed one of these to a 60" x 40" size, so maybe it looks better than CS6 once it is printed), but I really don't know a lot about the program and only use basic settings. Am I missing something there?

          4) I know that a common answer to the question of how large can you print a photo is, "It depends." I would like to get a more specific answer from someone that commonly does print large, high-detail landscape photos. How large are you willing to print landscapes taken with a 5dii/iii?

         
Thank you in advance for any responses to any of the above questions!

[Kernuak]

I don't print exceptionally large on a regular basis, however, I have pushed other cameras with lower resolution a little bit. Professional printing is considered to be 300 ppi (not dpi, that is dots per inch and most modern printers print several dots for each pixel) and it is usually considered that 240 ppi is fine for almost all images. If you have a high quality image, it would probably look ok at 180-200 ppi, but that is where it start to depend on the image itself, not just on image quality, but also on the type of image. The largest I can print is A3+ and the largest I've printed at home is A3 (42x29 cm, roughly 16"x12"). I have also had images from the 5D MkII and 40D printed to 28"x18", but that was on canvass, where you can print at lower resolution. Images I have printed from the 40D at 200-240 ppi haven't shown any noticeable deterioration in quality. I'm sure if you started looking at it in minute detail, you could tell the difference, but for normal viewing, it is fine. I can't answer the rest of your questions, as I don't have the D800, but if you extrapolate, you should get some idea. By the way, printing on the 5D MkII/III would give you about 135ppi at 42"x28", which would be ok for canvass, but probably too low for standard printing and personally I would aim for 200 ppi as a minimum, but would drop to 180ppi for some prints. If you are printing that large on a regular basis, then the D800 would theoretically give you better results.

[bycostello]

depends what you mean...  posters on the side of a bus are real low resolution....

[PaulTopol]

My knowledge of dpi, etc is very small but this is how I go about processing and printing:

I shoot raw with my Canon 1dmark2. It is an 8.2megapixel camera. Not big by today's standards.
Process using Capture One 6 into tiff at 100% size.
I crop as I feel I want when processing. No photoshop yet.
I'll tweak in photoshop and save as tiff.

I then use Qimage as the printing program. Nothing better for windows.
I have an Epson 7900.
Printing A1 is lovely. Couldn't be happier.
Have printed longer using roll paper.

If the image is sharp then Qimage will give you great results.

Took 4 shots left to right of Jerusalem. Joined them together using photoshop.
Printed as big as possible that my printer could print...6ft by 2ft.
Fabulous. All off 8.2mpix camera.
Use Qimage..you can't go wrong.

Have a great day
Paul

[Ellen Schmidtee]

What's the intended viewing distance? The farther the viewers stand, the lower the resolution you can print the photos and still have them look good, and the larger you can print the photo.

E.g. ads hanged on the sides of building are seen from such a distance, it's printed ~20DPI. Those ads are printed on plastic nets with holes, so the wind would pass through, rather than act like a sail.

For more details, see pages like this.

[rpt]

I printed a pic taken with my 300D (6MP 3096x2048) on to A3 and I thought it came out fine. Used it as a calendar...
So you get a perspective of the viewing distance too.

[Waterloo]

I print on a regular basis 22 X 33 on my Epson 7890 from raw captures from the 1D X and 5D Mark III. That is if the image is exceedingly sharp. I do my normal processing in Lightroom 4.2 and hand off to Photoshop CS 6 and resize using Alien Skin Blow Up 3. I resize at a resolution of 360 DPI which is half the native resolution of the printer.

[PackLight]

I am wondering if some light could be shed on the max useable print size for landscapes taken with a 5dii/5diii. I have looked over another post on this forum that discussed this topic and have read some of the links provided, but am still left wondering a few things:

          1) The link that was given referencing a tutorial on Adorama's website suggested that the print size be limited to the pixel dimensions divided by 135. That would give a roughly 42" x 28" print (rounded up) printed at 240 dpi for the 5d mark ii. My question is, how accurate is that assumption? What if I print at 300 dpi?

          2) How much of an advantage does someone using a d800 (or for that matter a 46mp Canon when the time comes) have over someone using a 5dii when printing at say 45" x 30" or 60" x 40"? Anyone with experience printing landscapes from a d800 vs. a 5dii/iii?

          3) What do you find the best program is to enlarge landscape photos? I have Perfect Resize 7, but have found that I like the results from CS6 better. I feel that Perfect Resize 7 gives results that look more like a painting (on the screen, I have never printed one of these to a 60" x 40" size, so maybe it looks better than CS6 once it is printed), but I really don't know a lot about the program and only use basic settings. Am I missing something there?

          4) I know that a common answer to the question of how large can you print a photo is, "It depends." I would like to get a more specific answer from someone that commonly does print large, high-detail landscape photos. How large are you willing to print landscapes taken with a 5dii/iii?

         
Thank you in advance for any responses to any of the above questions!

You can go 2 miles x 3 miles wide as long as your viewing distance is about 9 miles or more away.
Viewing distance is what matters.

The question for you would be how far away will it be viewed.