I had a few prints made recently by Bill Nordstrom at LaserLight using digital processes (drum scanning, photoshop, continuous tone printer). The prints are made from 5x7 inch color transparencies and are 22x30 inches. They look good. Now there is one thing which disturbs me. Here is the logic:

1. The files which were used to produce the final print are only around 4500x6000 pixels. Bill says that larger files would be overkill since he is printing at 12 lpm interpolated from 8 lpm.

2. One could easily produce a 4500x6000 file by scanning a 6x7cm slide.

3. This would imply that you could produce a 22x30 print from a 6x7cm with the same quality as a 22x30 print from a 5x7 inch.

4. In traditional printing, I thought that it wasn't that difficult to distinguish a 22x30 print made from a 6x7cm from a print of the same size made from 4x5.

So there is something which doesn't sound quite right there. Any comments ?