Large Format Photography to Grand Format Printing

Hi All, I'm glad i found this forum, looks like just the job.
We are a company that print digital Wallpaper Canvas Rollerblind or (Window Shades) and now Flooring. We have a world wide Patent Pending on a new vinyl cushion floor product. Basically my question is, if i can print a wall from a digital camera of about 12 million Megapixle, what quality am i going to get from scanning from a 4 x 5 negative? I need to shoot a series of images to use as flooring, like Grass, Sand, Water, Cobbles, snow, Etc. I'm guessing that the quality of large format photography is second to non, so is this the route i should be looking at or should i stick to digital and maybe get the images shot on a 50 + million megapixle camera?

I forgot to say, "the printer that we are printing the floor on is 5 Meters Wide, but we can tile the width with an artwork overlap, so the images could be blown up to any size".

Kind Regards
Kristian

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Originally Posted by Print2

Hi All, I'm glad i found this forum, looks like just the job.
We are a company that print digital Wallpaper Canvas Rollerblind or (Window Shades) and now Flooring. We have a world wide Patent Pending on a new vinyl cushion floor product. Basically my question is, if i can print a wall from a digital camera of about 12 million Megapixle, what quality am i going to get from scanning from a 4 x 5 negative? I need to shoot a series of images to use as flooring, like Grass, Sand, Water, Cobbles, snow, Etc. I'm guessing that the quality of large format photography is second to non, so is this the route i should be looking at or should i stick to digital and maybe get the images shot on a 50 + million megapixle camera?

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Well, a 4x5 transparency can be scanned to produce the equivalent of a 250 Megapixel image. :D

Cheers for that info.

If you are going to shoot 4x5 or larger yourself, you should be aware that while the "potential" for 250 megapixel resolution is there, to achieve the ultimate in resolution requires good camera technique. Shooting with Large Format is not nearly as easy as shooting a Digital SLR. You will have to practice and practice to get best results.

Hi, Thanks for the tip, I was going to commission the job to a Professional LF Photographer. I fully understand its not as easy as "pick up" or "mount the camera in this case" and shoot. The idea is to get the perfect viewing distances also. We view grass from and average of 5 feet so for the image to look realistic we will have to do a good few test prints to get this one spot on. Thanks so much for your advice.

There's more to this than just the size of the sensor/film, and the degree of enlargement.

The perception of "quality" will also be higher or lower, depending on favorable lighting, skillful placement of the camera, and ideal arrangement of the subject.

But while we're on the subject, an image made on an 8x10 camera will have 4 times the number of megapixels of a 4x5 image. They call it... Large Format.

Hi Ken, I was reading some of your other posts and replies earlier.

8 x 10 is something i have been looking at. Basically the floor gallery will start with ideas like grass etc, but when the designers get there head around the fact that there's no end to the idea that you could put onto a floor like coffee beans, sweets etc I think the hi res gallery could grow into something quite nice and different. Do you have any more info on 8 x 10?

The perception of "quality" will also be higher or lower, depending on favorable lighting, skillful placement of the camera, and ideal arrangement of the subject. I fully get this and understand that this has to be a job for a LF pro.

Thanks Again.

If your business can afford it, you might consider a digital back for a 4x5 camera. Go to betterlight.com, where they offer backs into the hundreds of megapixels. It would probably merge into your workflow nicely and be useful for other applications as well.

Thanks Mark, That looks like a good idea, i don't think i have the flair or knowledge to pull this one off. I think no matter how much i would love to set this up in my current place of work i also don't want to get it wrong, all the ideas i have in my head i can direct but not shoot. I will take a look at the digital backs though, it will give me a good idea of what I'm talking about when we come to shoot all this.

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Originally Posted by Print2

I will take a look at the digital backs though, it will give me a good idea of what I'm talking about when we come to shoot all this.

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Forget LF digital backs; they are horrendously expensive compared with an LF camera and a scanner. Kristian, did you get either of my PMs to you? If so give me a call; I can pop over as soon as is convenient.