Need to make VERY LARGE print. Please help!

[hooten_baldini]

Hi All. So I've got a show coming up and I need to make a 60 x 72 print from a 35mm

negative. I understand that it will need to be scanned and made digitally (either lightjet or

inkjet).

 

I've called some labs here in Los Angeles and the biggest they can print is 48 x 72. Can

anyone suggest a place for me to go?

 

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[pico_digoliardi]

48" x 72" is an exact upscale of 35mm full frame. 48" wide? Really? I don't know of anyone that does better than 42" wide. Who prints that wide?

 

So have them print it in two pieces, mount them carefully abutted.

 

Curious - can you post a link to the picture?

[troyammons]

Its going to have to be an Ink jet. Lightjets dont go that wide.

 

In Boca Raton, Fl - Boca Raton Bluprint has an HP photo Inkjet printer that has a 6' carrage so that should work. Call 561-395-4944 and ask for Stewart. Tell him Troy referenced you from photo.net.

 

You would also be best to start out with a 8000 dpi ++ drum scan. You would still have to interpolate up some. If you printed at 180dpi that would require a 10800 x 12960 file.

[kelly_flanigan1]

In old oldjet; 36" was once large 15 years ago; then 54 was say 7 years ago. Today there are 36, 42, 54 and 72" wide printers. Signage for casinos is many times printed shortways, say 24" high by 60 to 72inch wide above the slots. Blair Graphics can print 58" wide by any length in large format. They are in Santa Monica,WOODLAND HILLS, and Monterey Park. They are a very professional group, over 1/2 century old. They were doing large format printing in digital for a couple of decades.<BR><BR>With a large color print, mounting, transport, fading, what you are doing with it are REAL important.

[kelly_flanigan1]

Hootan, try a local shop, Transport, proofing of color & fonts and getting samples is easy locally. A common disconnect with folks new to "large prints" is that they wrongly assume the wrong shipping costs.

[kelly_flanigan1]

There is only so much info in a 35mm negative or trany. 35mm is used for large billboards, which can be 12x48 feet. Here viewing distance is large. Foar a large 48x72" detailed wall map; a 35mm original would be a joke. As wisdom of Beavis & Butthead would say, you cannot polish a turd. In advertising, a powerfull image is what matters. It is abit dangerous to only worry about pulling the last bit of mud/detail out of a 35mm original. Often I find that my customers are abit nuts with using super high scan settings, that really do nothing in the final print.

[beepy]

60 x 72 inches? :-) I'm with Kelly - a 35mm neg has only so much info. From some distance

it will look good.

<p>

I'm curious - why do you need to make a large print? And what are the viewing conditions?

<p>

I shoot 4x5 slides or negs for scans to yield 40 x 50 inch prints to get the detail that makes it

interesting...

[randall ellis]

It's going to be like trying to read a book with a microscope at that magnification- literaly.

 

- Randy

[leicaglow]

Hootan, I had Winkflash.com do some 44x66" prints from my 10 MP Nikon D200. I was astonished at how great they turned out. Even close up the sharpness was quite good, and the price was extremely reasonable. I would definitely scan first.

 

One thing to look for in a lab is the kind of printer they use. That defines the minimum print size. Another thing would be to contact a good lab and see if they'll tell you who does have the equipment needed to do your prints.

[hooten_baldini]

Thanks for all the answers guys. I've called A+I and west coast imaging and the widest

they can print is 48 inches. Same goes for Nardulli.

 

I'm thinking a lightjet print would be the best way to go...

 

I've attached the image of Darth Vader. It's for a friend and she has a big room to put it in.

I'll get a very high resolution drum scan but still need to find a place to make the print.

 

I'll try the print shops, but is the quality up to a lightjet print?

 

Thanks again guys...any help is always appreciated....<div></div>

[ben_holland]

You might find something by starting here, perhaps contacting either about wide output

services in your area:

 

http://www.wide-format-printers.org/index.php3

 

http://www.large-format-printers.org/

[bruce_watson1]

To print that wide, you need a shop with one of the big Roland printers. There are others also, Mutoh and Mimaki also have printers that large for example. High volume shops like WCI are unlikely to have such big printers. Look around, there are people running print-for-pay shops that can print as large as you want. There are some 3 meter wide printers out there ;-)

[tad doxsee]

Perhaps Andreas Gursky knows the answer. ;-)

[jay_wolfe]

You might get better answers elsewhere on the Forum. This is about large format photography, not big prints.

[kelly_flanigan1]

With out old process camera; the rolls were usually 42inches wide, somtimes wider rolls were used. The projection platen is 54x98 inches. The negative is 24x36" inches. A 48x72" print would not even full cover the platen. With our older rig; a Durst 138S with a 5x7 Inch negative, out vertical vacuum frame we built was 48x96 inches. It is real amusing to read a newcomer to large format say that folks dont print big! <BR><BR>In inkjet; alot of folks run 72" wide machines and print largeprints sideways, to increase thruput. Many use shorter 54" , 44, 36 " rolls for dinky jobs. <BR><BR>With a 35mm negative, your printer wont be the limit with a giant 48x72" print, even if an ancient one from 10 years ago is used.<BR><BR>In a way, this is abit of a bizzare question, folks print large images all the time for signs, dasherboards, trucks, billboards, much larger than 48x72 inches. Wall Maps are printed in inkjet say 54x75 inches, then laminated in many mapping printers. <BR><BR>

[jeffdyck]

Troy --> "Its going to have to be an Ink jet. Lightjets dont go that wide."

 

ABC Photo in Vancouver, BC has an Oce LightJet 500XL that will print up to 76" wide (up to 76" x 120")