PBase

Hi, all,

I use a Canon G1 (3 Megapixels) camera.

My photos are mainly for display on computers only, therefore I have always been shrinking/cropping the photos down to 1024x768 during post-processing.

I am now considering printing some of the processed photos. Does anyone have experience to share on printing photos of this size? What is realistic print size with reasonable quality?

I do not own a photo printer myself, therefore, most likely I will be bringing the photos to a photo shop for printing.

thanks,

Victor

Your answer depends on a couple of issues.

First, what does 'reasonable quality' mean to you? For some people it means that the image holds up when looking at it from a distance of two inches while wearing a jeweler's loupe. For others it means that the picture is pleasing at normal viewing distances.

Second, how much important detail is there in the image? Images, such as portraits, can be blown up much larger than images such as groups shots where one would like to see facial details.

Many people consider 150 dpi to be about the lower limit of acceptability for a printed image. At that pixel/dot density you could make some 5"x7" prints. Smaller would be better.

A lot is going to depend on what sort of software the printer uses to up-size your files.

Prints are cheap (at least here in the US). Take in a couple of samples and see what you think. If you can see 'pixels' - little squares - your printer doesn't have a clue.

Further, (and you probably now realize this) - always shoot full rez with your camera. Always save an untouched version of the image right out of the camera. If you had done that you would now be thinking about printing 3 meg images, not .78 meg images.

And, with time, software and your skills will improve. It's always nice to be able to go back to square one and start over.

Hi, I have a Canon S400 and a Canon i850 printer. I'm printing a lot and as I had fist an Canon A5 (1Mpix) and then Canon v3 (3Mpix) I've compared the quality.
Shots taken with the A5 (1024x768) are ugly even on 4x6 (10x15cm), but shots taken with the v3 or the S400 are perfect on A4 even if the picture is 1024x768. So it's basicly very important the quality of the image itself.
As you have a G1, should be very good quality, and I think that you can print up to 20x15cm (half A4) with no problem.

Try a simple test. Take two 1024 x 768 files (a people and landscape shot) to Costco, Sam's Club or other print shop and order a 4x6, 5x7 and maybe an 8x12 and see how they look. Always print from the higest resolution image you have. Bobtrip is right, always keep the original image; it's your digital "negative." I use a suffix for the altered files: -R for reduced and -E for edited. So DCP_4567.jpg gets saved as DCP_4567-R.jpg.

I think you should be OK with 4x5 or 4x6. As mentioned earlier it depends a lot on the image. If image is clean - your camera is very good it should deliver excellent pics, and you did not do anything drastic to the image, it should come out all right.

Now important thing is that printers like native resolution. If you print at home, use Qimage or stair interpolation in Photoshop [see fredmiranda.com] to interpolate up to the printer's native resolution [in my case it's 720 dpi]. For printing in photo labs, interpolate at least to 300dpi. You will also need to sharpen your images a little.