Fine Art Quality Printing

[msivaramprasad]

Hi,

I am sure this has been asked before, but wanted to know the latest information on the good Photo lab anywhere in US who make large prints approx size of 20 X 60 with maximum DPI.

Some of the labs i have spoken recently said that they will print only 150 DPI at that size instead of 300 DPI. I have my first few 6 X 17 Fuji Velvia 50 Slides that has been Scanned at maximum DPI on my Flatbed scanner and wanted to print few 15 x 45 or 20 x60 for my home and was not able to find a good lab.

I will be happy if there is any place near DC but willing to send the Digital file to any lab.

Also, What is the best DPI for printing such a large print with out loosing the detail. Attached is the sample picture i would like print which is been re sized for upload purpose.

Any recommondations are greatly helpful.

Thanks
Sivaram

[Brian Vuillemenot]

I highly recommend West Coast Imaging for the printing you describe. I would recommend printing at 360 dpi but in some cases I've heard of 240 dpi in large prints giving indistinguishable results from 360.

[vinny]

Get the film drum scanned unless you own a creo flatbed. Do a search here as this subject came up within the last few days. Aspencreekphoto.com or westcoastimaging if you can spend $$$ (minimum order).

[msivaramprasad]

Thanks all for the quick reply. It was useful info.

Thanks
Sivaram

[Nathan Potter]

You need an outstanding transparency to get what most here would consider quality resolution (300dpi) at a 60 inch size.

300dpi would require some 6000 X 18000 pixels at 20 X 60 inches. That translates to about 2600 ppi (1060 ppcm.) on film. BTW that is 106 l/mm. or 212 lp/mm on your film!

You can relax that nasty reality by a factor of two for 150 ppi on the enlargement if it's acceptable for your viewing but even that requires a resolution on film of about 100 lp/mm.

OTOH you could use an antique lens for some really beautiful effects in color and just not worry about the resolution nonsense. ;)

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Adamphotoman]

I know of a DC close lab.
Give me till the AM to source it for you...
G

[jp]

Not knocking your sample, but it doesn't look the sort of image to require extreme dots-per-inch. It's a abstraction of colors and shapes without minute detail (unless minute detail doesn't show on the scan). For that sort of thing, I'd be more interested in a small color proof prior to the big print to make sure it's got the colors and tones the way you want.

If it were a daytime urban scene where you expect to read license plates or signage, or a daytime woods scene where you want to see the bark on the birch at the other side of the big field, then maximum dpi output would probably be advisable.

[msivaramprasad]

Nathan Potter -

Thanks for the detail explanation regarding how many lpm i need on a film . I have scanned a 6 X17 Fuji Velvia 50 Slide (56 x 168 mm) on a Flat Bed Scanner at 4400 DPI which came around ~300 Mega Pixel file about 2gb file. I am not exactly looking for 20 x 60 but more of 15 x 45 as the additional space is for borders as most of teh printing services does not have a size of 19 x 49 (with 2 inch Border ).

Since am still amature to the medium format film, wanted to know how big i can print in case i like some picture that i need to print.

Adamphotoman -

Thanks and that would be great.

jp498 -

I know i donot need excellent detail in the attached picture, my question in ingeneral if i need to print high resolution with detail for my future use.

Thanks all for the replies,
Sivaram