Biggest print with a 50d at a 3ft viewing distance?

[claytontullos]

<p>Well I'm wondering just how large I can print a landscape image and it still look good from a normal viewing distance.</p>

<p>Currently, I am leaning towards ordering a print at 24x36. When I have it on my screen at the exact same size it would be printed it looks good still from my 1-2ft viewing distance. Viewing it at print size on my monitor is exactly 33.333 percent of the size that the image would have to be at 300dpi printed. Do prints work this way?<br>

What is the biggest that you have printed?</p>

<p>this is the pic<br>

http://www.claytontullos.com/images/oregon/50d/sp09/_MG_1659.jpg</p>

 

[andylynn]

<p>If you shot at full resolution on a 50D it's 4752 pixels in the long dimension which makes it 132 PPI at 36". 36" is viewed from a few feet so you'll be fine.</p>

[g dan mitchell]

<p>The answer to this sort of question is always... it depends. But fortunately it is easy for you to find out what it will look like, assuming that you have some kind of printer.</p>

<p>Go through the entire workflow to bring your photograph to the final printable version in the large target size. Now crop out a small letter size section from the center and print that small bit of your photograph at the target resolution. Tack it up on the wall. Stand back. Consider.</p>

<p>Dan</p>

[mbkissel]

<p>I've had a few from my 50D that were printed at 20x30 that looked pretty good at that distance. Those shots were from a tripod mount, MLU, and timer triggered shutter.</p>

[claytontullos]

<p>This shot was also with a tripod and a 2 sec / timed shutter.<br>

ISO 100, f7.1, 11mm</p>

[sarah_fox]

<p>You should be fine. If you have a good monitor and can be satisfied with the blown-up image when viewed really closely, the print should be fine too. Dan's suggestion is a good one: Just print out a small swatch at the target magnification to see how it looks.</p>

[KenPapai]

<p>Think of a large screen full HDTV -- these look awesome (at least the plasmas do). From a viewing distance of 6-8 feet they are excellent. DPI? A mere 56 for a 32.5" horizontal (X asis) size.</p>

<p>3 feet viewing distance of a print? 180 DPI is already overkill.</p>

[tpurvis]

<p>Clayton, you can print a 24 X 36 with a 15 MP camera that will look good at 6 inches. I have printed very successfully 20 X 30 with my XTI (10 MP). I assume you are working with a JPG file. If you have Photo Shop, open the image and the resize tool. Set the hight and width to 24 in and 36 in and the DPI to 360. The will use the built in resizing in Photo Shop to create at 18 + Meg file. You will need to carry the file to your processing center. </p>

[claytontullos]

<p>I ordered the picture at 24x36, I had a 28mb file. I did method suggested above, I printed a section of the full size image and stuck it on my wall. </p>

<p>I order my pictures from whcc.com; they do a pretty good professional job.</p>