How to print large A2/A1 size images

[rammy]

Hi,

I have a 300D. If I take a RAW image, convert it to TIFF, what is the largest print I can do with the image without it becoming pixelated? A4 or A3?

Is there anyway that I can take a single shot image and have that printed at A1 size without quality loss or pixelisation?

What is the largest print (single shot) people have done with this camera please?

One way I have thought of accomplishing this is to take a panoramic kind of shot to make a bigger image.

Thanks.

[BearSummer]

Hi Rammy,

currently your question is "How long is a piece of string"... but will try and give you a usefull answer.

It depends on how closely you want to view the finished picture. The further away you are the lower the resolution can be. In perfect viewing conditions at around 8 inches 300 ppi (pixels per inch) gives you a good result. The 300D has a resolution of 3072 x 2048 , so without interpolation you could get away with 10.25x6.8 inches. However the reccomended viewing distance is the same as the distance diagonally across the print.... which is 12.3 inches and because you are viewing it from further away you can decrease your ppi. etc etc etc which is why you can shoot billboards with digital cameras, because nobody expects to view them from 8 inches. You also need to consider interpolation, ie faking extra data into the picture which cann give you larger prints which can be viewed from closer distance than you would expect from the raw information.

Hope that helps--- the answer by the way is, twice as long as it is if you fold it in half.

BearSummer

[chris.bailey]

I have successfully printed D60 images at A0 size several times. If you look very closely you can see some noise but from a normal viewing distance they are fine.

Dont do any interpolation and do minimal sharpening. The picture will be a little soft but again thats only from close up. Sometimes it is best to introduce some grain to the shot, it tends to hides some of the pixelation.

[rammy]

Thanks v. much for info.

If I use the CRW load that into Photoshop CS, I can actually pick a bigger size in the camera raw import dialogue, 6144 x 4096.

Is this worth doing and will image stay sharp? I will get a bigger picture but will PS add artefacts (extra pixels) into the image to make it bigger or is it using the RAW information to "manufacture" the image.

Sorry if this is a lame question, I'm a bit of a newbie on photography and really want to understand it.