topic What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III? in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

tdehan — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 14:53:55 GMT

I shoot only in raw and work on my images in LIghtroom 6. I export the images typically as a .tiff and sometimes as .jpg at the largest size. What is the largest print size I can produce?

Thanks!

Re: What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

ebiggs1 — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 15:20:47 GMT

Some Office Depot stores have color plotters that can print 30x40. Most will have a 20x30 color plotter. However, you did not state what quality you are able to live with. My Pro-100 can print 19x23 and it is top quality. I rarely print larger than 13x19, though.

Any of the gear you have can do this, too. It just depends on what you want and can live with.

Re: What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

ebiggs1 — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 15:22:01 GMT

BTW, you have a fantastic bag!

Re: What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

TCampbell — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 15:22:12 GMT

This is really a matter of expactation and viewing distance. For examples.... billboards are printed at staggeringly low resolutions (I've seen as low as 11dpi) but since the billboard is intended to be viewed from quite a distance (several hundred yards away) it still looks fine.

I do most of my printing at Aluminyze. They suggest a minimum of 100dpi -- so for, say, a 36" x 24" print you would want "at least" 3600 x 2400 resolution. But they ALSO suggest that 300dpi will be a more optimal looking image (especially if the people viewing it will be close) (so that would be 10800 x 7200.

A 5D III has a sensor resolution of 5760 x 3840. So at 300 dpi that would be 19.2 x 12.8". At lower resolutions such as 100dpi you could go up to 57 x 38" -- just remember that 100 dpi wont look as good if inspected close-up (I consider about 150dpi to be good enough for most casual viewing distances).

You can generate a staggeringly high resolution image with any camera by shooting a mosaic of images that will be stitched together in software. You could use a panoramic tripod head. GigaPan makes a robotic tripod head that captures all the frames automatically... but certainly you could just soot all the frames manually and overlap each image by roughly 1/3rd.

In some cases you can get a 'parallax' issue caused by camera movement while shooting all the frames. Suppose you drive two stakes in the ground... one about 10' in front of the camera lens, the other 20' in front of the camera lens and you position the camera so they are lined up (one behind the other). Now pan the camera left or right so that the two stakes appear either in the extreme right edge or extreme left edge of the frame... and you MAY notice that the stakes no longer line up. This is because the front of the lense has moved left or right.

Some panoramic heads have something called a "nodal slide" which allows you to slide the whole camera forward or backward to find the nodal point. A camera positioned at this point will not experience any parallax shift when panning the camera and the images stitch together flawlessly.

Anyway... if you want a massive image with very high resolution, that's how you can get it with any camera (assuming you have a stationary subject -- this obviously wont work for action photography).

Re: What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

tdehan — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 15:41:22 GMT

Thanks for the replies. Ok, so if I am reading this correctly the native pixel resolution of the 5D Mark III is 5760 x 3840. At 300dpi is a size of 19.2 x 12.8. I've been trying to get some reproductions done on both glass and metal of 16.x 20 and they are just not as sharp as I want. I know the images are sharp but enlarging to the size of 16 x 20 makes them a tad blurry to my eye which I guess would be expected.

Photoshop Elements 15 has the ability to enlarge the image size to 16x24 which I haven't played with much.

Under Images >Resize>Image Size I can change the document size and keep the resolution at 300 PPI and then select to resample the image > Bicubic Smoother (best for enlargement). Has anyone played around with this? Would this let me get to a better image in the size I want to print?

Re: What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

ebiggs1 — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 20:15:17 GMT

You are getting into the difficult to understand part of photography. At least it is not understood by most people.

"DPI" stands for "dots per inch." "PPI" stands for "pixels per inch." PPI is used for the resolution of the image on a monitor. How many pieces of information are you going to display per inch? DPI is used by a printer for how many dots of ink/pigment/color it is going to lay down per inch. A digital photo has neither until it is saved or exported for one or the other uses.

All digital cameras capture an image at full resolution. From the above you understand there is no PPI nor DPI?

Using a dpi of 100, the pixel dimensions of your image must be no less than 1600 x 2000 pixels. (16 inches times 100 dpi = 1600 pixels, 20 inches times 100 dpi = 2000 pixels). To print a 16 x 20 at 240 dpi your image would need to be 3840 x 4800 pixels. (16 inches times 240 dpi = 3840, 20 inches times 240 dpi = 4800 pixels).

Usually 300 dpi is the default standard wanted by most printers, commercial or home.

There are certain other things you can do to your image to improve its quality when printed. Sharpening an image before printing can improve the quality of your prints. Image editing software, like PS can digitally blow up your image to a higher resolution. These things need to be done with care as it is a case where less is more.

Re: What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

TTMartin — Sat, 11 Mar 2017 19:19:29 GMT

@tdehan wrote:
Thanks for the replies. Ok, so if I am reading this correctly the native pixel resolution of the 5D Mark III is 5760 x 3840. At 300dpi is a size of 19.2 x 12.8. I've been trying to get some reproductions done on both glass and metal of 16.x 20 and they are just not as sharp as I want. I know the images are sharp but enlarging to the size of 16 x 20 makes them a tad blurry to my eye which I guess would be expected.

You are the only one who is going to be looking at your 16" X 20" print from a foot away.

When normal viewing distance is taken into account you actually need less than 100 PPI for a 16"X20" print.

Determining the PPI Needed

The ppi needed for a print with acceptable quality is determined by dividing 3438 by the viewing distance.

3438 ÷ Viewing Distance

3438 is derived from the following formulas.

1 ÷ ppi = 2 x Viewing Distance x tan(.000290888 ÷ 2)

1 ÷ ppi = Viewing Distance x tan(.000290888)

ppi = 3438 ÷ Viewing Distance

.000290888 is the visual acuity angle, a measure of how much resolution the human visual system can perceive.

I'll PM you the links to the supporting documentation quoted above.

Re: What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

tdehan — Sat, 11 Mar 2017 20:51:42 GMT

With all due respect I am not the only one who is going to be looking at my 16 x 20 print from a foot away. I've been selling my metal and glass printed images for a while now and because of how vivd they are in color people get right up to them.

Re: What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

ebiggs1 — Sat, 11 Mar 2017 21:53:03 GMT

This is the bottom line.

"Usually 300 dpi is the default standard wanted by most printers, commercial or home."

Re: What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

TTMartin — Sat, 11 Mar 2017 21:54:01 GMT

@tdehan wrote:
With all due respect I am not the only one who is going to be looking at my 16 x 20 print from a foot away. I've been selling my metal and glass printed images for a while now and because of how vivd they are in color people get right up to them.

You've been selling 16"x20" prints for quite awhile. Or you've been sell smaller metal and glass prints where it is normal for people to view them from a closer distance?

I PM'd you the science behind what I wrote.

Re: What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

tdehan — Sun, 12 Mar 2017 14:58:00 GMT

Been selling them for some time...

Re: What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

TTMartin — Sun, 12 Mar 2017 15:08:38 GMT

@tdehan wrote:
Been selling them for some time...

Given your 5D Mk III has the most megapixels of all the cameras you have listed and you've been selling 16"x20" prints for some time, why the original question?

Re: What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

tdehan — Sun, 12 Mar 2017 15:39:03 GMT

Because, in my ignorance I didn't realize that the max pixel size that is produced by the Mark III is less than the images I've been having printed. And, I've noticed some issues on some of the prints, not all. I was surprised to learn that the max pixel size produced by the Mark III was less than 16 x 20. And again, probably because of my ignorance, but I display a lot of my images as my desktop background on my 30 inch monitor and they look terrific.

So, if I am to continue producing larger images (at least 16 x 20) or even larger perhaps do I need a different camera, a different process, or a different tool to enlarge (if even possible) my images?

Re: What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

TTMartin — Sun, 12 Mar 2017 15:55:53 GMT

@tdehan wrote:
Because, in my ignorance I didn't realize that the max pixel size that is produced by the Mark III is less than the images I've been having printed. And, I've noticed some issues on some of the prints, not all. I was surprised to learn that the max pixel size produced by the Mark III was less than 16 x 20. And again, probably because of my ignorance, but I display a lot of my images as my desktop background on my 30 inch monitor and they look terrific.

So, if I am to continue producing larger images (at least 16 x 20) or even larger perhaps do I need a different camera, a different process, or a different tool to enlarge (if even possible) my images?

No you were not ignorant. People who told you 300 PPI regardless of print size are the ones who are ignorant. You have to take into account viewing distance, and visual acuity to determine, the actual PPI required.

Someone already mentioned billboards actual only require 10-20 PPI.

The larger the print, the greater the viewing distance to see the whole photo at once, the lower the PPI requited.

Re: What is the largest size print I can produce from 5D Mark III?

TTMartin — Sun, 12 Mar 2017 17:20:28 GMT

Back in 2006 New York Times technology writer David Pogue for the TV show 'It's All Geek to Me' took a photo and made 16" X 24" prints of a photo printed at 200 PPI (~13 megapixels), 150 PPI (~8 megapixels), and 100 PPI (~5 megapixels). He had the photos on display on Time Square in NYC. Of the people who stopped only 1 person in 20 could correctly identify which photo was printed at which PPI.

That's why in my initial comment, that you're likely the only one who sees any difference.

edit: as a rule of thumb, when taking into account visual acuity and viewing distance, you don't need more than 8 - 12 megapixels after cropping, regardless of the size of the print. And that is why testing sites, will generally use those resolutions for their 'print' tests.

2nd edit: This was also why Canon was 'stuck' at 18 - 21 megapixels for all those years. There was no 'technical reason' to increase megapixels beyond that despite Canon being the first company having the technical ability to do so. It was only when market demand (due other companies marketing, not science) that Canon was forced to increase their cameras megapixels.