# How big do you print?



## Halfrack (Sep 27, 2013)

I'm on a tear printing things, and I keep reminding myself that looking at a photo on a screen of any type really isn't looking at a photo properly. Screens are backlit, where as prints are frontlit. 

So, how big have you pushed your images? Stitched images count, so if you're abusing a roll feed printer, admit to it now.


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## BLFPhoto (Sep 27, 2013)

I just had 24 prints done ranging in size from 24x36 all the way up to some 7 foot tall banners. All images were 5D III, 5D II, or 7D. Mostly 7D.


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## privatebydesign (Sep 27, 2013)

I use a 17" roll printer, my standard print is 16"x24", not huge but considering many people never print now it isn't too bad. I have done 16"x42" panoramas from a single ff image but prefer to use two stiched as there ias no doubt IQ falls off and people expect to view everything up close. I did make a 46"x31" from a single 21mp capture, it worked fine for the intended use and I have posted crops from the print file before.

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=15884.msg292745#msg292745


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## JaxPhotographer (Sep 27, 2013)

Generally I print anywhere from 8x10 up to 20x30 and 24x36 depending on the image, who it is for, etc. I have an Epson SP 7890 so I have a lot of flexibility. Largest was a Grand Canyon stitch my daughter shot that I did on canvas at 60"x20 for her.


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## ajfotofilmagem (Sep 27, 2013)

I've printed matte photo paper Fuji 50x70 cm, the picture I did with the old Rebel XTI (10 megapixel) ISO 200 and was wonderful.  A human being could not see with the naked eye, no noise, no serrated contour, no JPEG compression artifact, no chromatic aberration.    It was a portrait of the head and chest, where could see the skin pores of a 15 years old girl. The only thing I corrected was the lip that had a lack of pigmentation in the skin. If the makeup artist had used color strong lipstick, would have saved me the job, but she used transparent lipstick. : The lens I used was Tokina 16-50mm F2.8 stopped down to F4.


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## eml58 (Sep 27, 2013)

I have the Epson 4900, So Printing is generally 17" x 24" from 50' Rolls.

I use only Museo Paper, but I do use 3 different types of Museo Paper, Silver Rag, Portfolio Art & Archival Fine Art.

Most of my Printing is for Family & Friends and just for the enjoyment of seeing a reasonable sized print of an Image that I've put some effort into achieving.


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## Menace (Sep 27, 2013)

I have a 200cm print hanging in my son's school. I regularly print A0 (119cm) canvas for clients.


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## Chris Geiger (Sep 27, 2013)

I just received a request to resize a 3 megapixels photo shot with a point and shoot to a 96" x 96" wall portrait. The printing company wants a 200 dpi uncompressed tiff. So I used Genuine Fractals and photoshop to resize and sharpen it. The resulting photo was 386 megapixels and 1.02GB in size. That is the largest file I have ever worked with and yes the resulting images will be very soft. 

The largest single print I have ever done is 60' long, it was a building sign. 

Most of work is 20x30 and smaller, usually much smaller.


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## The Bad Duck (Sep 27, 2013)

Printing big is addictive!
If you haven´t, do it!


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## AUGS (Sep 27, 2013)

The Bad Duck said:


> Printing big is addictive!
> If you haven´t, do it!



A few years ago I did a landscape photography tour. It was absolutely brilliant! When I came home, I decided it was time to decorate the walls with the photos I'd taken. I installed picture rails in almost all rooms and purchased a dozen or so custom frames of various sizes from 12"x18" through to 20"x40" in aspect ratios of 3:2, 2:1 and 3:1.

Now, everytime I head out on an expedition, I remove some of the older images and insert some new ones, and I'm getting one pretty big portfolio folder. Yes, its addictive.


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## Menace (Sep 27, 2013)

The Bad Duck said:


> Printing big is addictive!
> If you haven´t, do it!



Ditto.

There is something special about seeing one's photographs on huge prints/canvas.


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## Kernuak (Sep 27, 2013)

The largest prints I've done so far, are some 28x18 inch canvas prints, a couple of which were from the 40D, the others with the 5D MkII. Generally, I only print to A3 though, as that is the largest I can print myself (at least untiul I get some A3+ rolls). I have been tempted to get some larger prints done, but I would need to research quality printers that print that big. The ones I've had a couple of things done with before also used to be limited to the same size.


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## Sporgon (Sep 27, 2013)

At Building Panoramics we use a K3 Ultra Chrome Epson 7880. All our (building) pictures are produced for printing as these are sold by the various institutions that we shoot for. Our standard picture size is 39" wide and the preferred medium is high quality cotton based canvas, though we do print on 'art' ( water colour ) paper as well. Printing is always from a 16 bit tiff file in Adobe rgb. Having said that we have on two occasions actually cocked up and shot in medium jpeg. Luckily as the images required very little pp they printed just the same. We produce the box mounted stretched canvases ourselves. The largest size that our pictures have been printed at is 118" across for display in visitor centres etc but we cannot do this in house. Because they are all stitches some of our images have been around 230 mp, but to be quite honest this is unnecessarily large and we actually have to dump resolution to make the files more manageable. We don't actually print at the highest resolution of the printer either. 

I always print my own personal stuff with a desktop Epson, even if it is only 6x4. To me a picture has to be tangible.


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## paul13walnut5 (Sep 27, 2013)

Generally print for hanging at 10"x15"


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## Pagesphotography (Sep 27, 2013)

We've got some 20x30 canvas's, and a few large acrylics(24x36)...but we don't do our own printing haha, not yet anyway.


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## paradoxxx (Sep 27, 2013)

When I bought my wide format printer I wanted to know how long I could print a photo. Unfortunately that was not written in the Epson user manual. So I emailed Epson support and asked that question. They replied that I can print up to 45" long depending on my driver. My average prints are 17" x 25" but I wanted to test Epsons answer. I recently went to the Dominican Republic and stood in the water with my 1Dx and 24-70mm and took five shots from one end of the beach to the other. Stitch them together in CS6 and printed them at 17" high and the resulting photo came out to be 8.3 feet. So I printed it and it came out looking fantastic. I can't hang it anywhere or even spend the money to mount it so it just gets rolled up and put in a photo tube to show friends and relatives who are interested. So much for Epsons 45" limit.


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## zim (Sep 27, 2013)

Range between 10x8 to 24x16 from a 500D, love prints always have done. Probably goes way back pre-teens to my dad regularly turning the kitchen into a process and developement room, and the living room into a glazing room! happy days ;D


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## monkeyhand (Sep 27, 2013)

paradoxxx said:


> So much for Epsons 45" limit.



Never heard that, you can print till the roll empties or you max out the memory of the printer.


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## paradoxxx (Sep 27, 2013)

I can print till the roll is gone. Printer actually keeps track of how much paper is on the roll and warns me when it reaches a pre-set limit I put in. I don't know if epson understands their own products. I wanted to print wirelessly over an airport express since my printer is downstairs in the family room and I'm up in the living room. I didn't want to spend the money for the express if it wasn't going to work. Epson told me It might be able to print but would not receive any feed back from the printer. So I went and bought one, hooked it up and I receive printer warnings, ink levels, paper alarms ect, ect. I think epson makes the best photo printers but their support services don't seem to understand their products.


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## awinphoto (Sep 27, 2013)

Does tradeshow booth murals count? Approx 20 feet on the long side albeit usually printed at 100-150 dpi?


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## RGF (Sep 27, 2013)

I got an Epson 4880 (before the 4900 came out) because I did not have space for 24" printer. Mostly print 16x20 but occasionally print panos.


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## Bruce Photography (Sep 27, 2013)

Menace said:


> The Bad Duck said:
> 
> 
> > Printing big is addictive!
> ...



Ditto again. I have a Canon IPF 5000 (17 wide) and a Canon IPF 6350 (24 wide) with the hard drive. I usually print on Canon Satin in 240gsm to 300gsm which is my favorite. For gallery type things my normal print size is 24x36 which I print myself and then send it out for a gator-board treatment with a special uv coating and custom hanging braces which work well in commercial spaces. My best selling print is a large sea lion that is 5 feet by 2 feet and certainly grabs your attention.

When I was shooting Canon I mostly made 17x25 inch prints but with a Nikon D800 the 2x3 feet prints are easy to do with amazing detail without resorting to any plug-ins (single image).

When sharing my photos at our local photo club I usually am the the only one that bring in prints because everyone else brings in thumb drives for the 720p projector. Projected images are just not the same as holding a large print in your hands. Perhaps that is just because I am most comfortable with viewing a print in this way. I started when I was 13 and old methods just feel more comfortable.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Sep 27, 2013)

I occasionally have Costco print a 30 X 40, but most of my larger images tend to be done with roll paper on my Epson 3880 where I print 16 inch wide paper at up to 44 inches. 

I've printed far more 4X6 sheets than large ones though, a few hundred coming up tomorrow. I print them as 4 X 6 proofs with print info on the border so that subjects can order large prints. 

Its a hobby, so I'm not concerned about making a profit. Its nice but not necessary to break even. I often print for local home school events at far below my cost, its a way of giving to the local small community.


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## mackguyver (Sep 27, 2013)

When I was in grade school, I printed my letters really big, but as an adult, I print between the lines of college ruled paper


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## surapon (Sep 27, 2013)

The Biggest Photo that I print for my HP Designjet 800 = 42 Inches X 60 Inches, or 42 Inches X any length as you wish, up to 150 feet ( the Roll length)
Surapon


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