enlargements from digital files

[DavidR]

hi all, just wanted to get peoples opinions on what they think are the sort of sizes you would recommend for print enlargements from digital files. The file im interested in enlarging 4135x2745 @ 3.5MB/300dpi. last time i got a print done the people at the lab recommended 12x18 was the largest i could go without any loss of image quality. do you think i can go larger with a file that size? thoughts would be appreciated

[Thommo]

I have some 30x24 inch prints done from my d200 at iso800, and they came out quite well, Just remember that for prints that big the view distance will be at least a metre, so people wont be able to pixel peep quite as much.

[DavidR]

ah yes, im too used to viewing photos on my screen lol,

[Oneputt]

A 3.5 mb file is fairly small and I would have thought that about A3 would have been the max.

[Thommo]

i forgot to mention that my shots were from raw files.

[Oneputt]

RAW or not that is a very small file.

[DavidR]

yes im not really sure why the files so small, i was shooting in fine JPEGS and usually the files are at least a few MB larger. hmmmmmm

[Mr Darcy]

I think it really depends on the photo.
While I would not normally recommend this, I do have one A3 print that came form a JPG shot on a 3Mp P&S.
It remains one of my favourites.

[DavidR]

thanks for the feedback, i was also wondering if i increased the resolution would i be able to make larger prints, or would this lead to a reduction in print/image quality?

[Mr Darcy]

Whatever you do, you will still have the same (or less ) data for the same photo. If you make a bigger print. You will spread that data over a greater area. This will eventually lead to loss of perceived quality. Only you can tell if that loss of quality is unacceptable. The photo I mentioned earlier is of a sunset. It really doesn't matter to me if there is loss of detail when I look at it up close.

[Aussie Dave]

thanks for the feedback, i was also wondering if i increased the resolution would i be able to make larger prints, or would this lead to a reduction in print/image quality?

When you say an increase of resolution, what are you referring to ?

When I scale my images for enlargements the formula I use is [dpi of printed image] x [dimension of printed image]

eg. for an 8"x12" photo printed at 300dpi

8 x 300 = 2400px
12 x 300 = 3600px

So, the size of the file would be resized to 2400px x 3600px

However, if printing 12" x 18" (or for large prints), you could probably print this at 200dpi instead of 300dpi (as you should be viewing this photo from further away).

So in that instance, 12" x 18" @ 200dpi would work out to be the same pixel dimension of 2400px x 3600px.

Being your original image size is 4100 x 2700 (or thereabouts), without resizing, you could print this image at a max size of:
13.5" x 9" @ 300dpi....or
20.5" x 13.5" @ 200dpi

If you were to resize it to a larger dimension, you could print at larger sizes (obviously losing some quality - this all depending on how much you upscale your image from it's original size).