Lens Sharpness, Pixel Peeping & Prints...

TeamSpeed wrote in post #16659725
It can be that cheap for you, you just have to know what you are doing and be willing to work through the process. I picked up somebody's rebate-program Canon Pro printer, Canon paper and high quality german ink. It is now much more expensive to print externally, including time and gas to pick it up. I also have my monitors and printer completely calibrated to each other, and can redo this from time to time to keep them in sync. When we want a poster print, I just walk over and print it out.

that's nice and dandy till your print head clogs, or dries out, or you get some other mechanical failure. It really sucks when you do a large print job and get streaks or run out of a certain color..... then there's the messy refill (unless your running CIS).... It works great until you start getting problems

the physical size of the machine is also an issue, I really dont have space for it, save the attic. I'm going to costco anyhow, so gas is a non issue. I've been through a few canon printers already, and dont care for the upkeep anymore. If your system is new/reliable, then good, print your heart out. Longevity hasnt been my experience with ANY inkjet printer.

it only takes 1 hardware failure for all these print at home savings to go away (it took me two hardware failures to figure this out ).

Talley wrote in post #16660201
Thank you for your insight. Currently I cannot print larger than my Pro-100 13x19 capability.

Maybe in the future I will purchase a large format 24" printer in addition to my current printer. I can pick up a 24" Canon model for right at 1,000. That will happen if I become pretty stable in side photography work but right now this is all just a hobby.

One thing you can do is size a picture to 16x24 at 300dpi, then crop out a 13x19 @300dpi portion, and print that. It will be the same thing detail wide as a 16x24 for comparing sharpness

btw, if you're testing out super large prints, it might be best to print out a very small segment for pixel peeping. For instance, if your goal is to print 20x30, you can divide with 4x6 on the long end and get multiples of 5. Create a constrained crop in lightroom about 1/5 the size of the print photo. Crop and export just that section, and print to 4x6. Pixel peep without printing the full 20x30 .

NatDeroxL7 wrote in post #16660259
One thing you can do is size a picture to 16x24 at 300dpi, then crop out a 13x19 @300dpi portion, and print that. It will be the same thing detail wide as a 16x24 for comparing sharpness

Charlie wrote in post #16660316
btw, if you're testing out super large prints, it might be best to print out a very small segment for pixel peeping. For instance, if your goal is to print 20x30, you can divide with 4x6 on the long end and get multiples of 5. Create a constrained crop in lightroom about 1/5 the size of the print photo. Crop and export just that section, and print to 4x6. Pixel peep without printing the full 20x30 .

omg you jerks.... now I want to pixel peep my prints UGH

Charlie wrote in post #16660242
that's nice and dandy till your print head clogs, or dries out, or you get some other mechanical failure. It really sucks when you do a large print job and get streaks or run out of a certain color..... then there's the messy refill (unless your running CIS).... It works great until you start getting problems

the physical size of the machine is also an issue, I really dont have space for it, save the attic. I'm going to costco anyhow, so gas is a non issue. I've been through a few canon printers already, and dont care for the upkeep anymore. If your system is new/reliable, then good, print your heart out. Longevity hasnt been my experience with ANY inkjet printer.

it only takes 1 hardware failure for all these print at home savings to go away (it took me two hardware failures to figure this out ).

VERY good point. This is the only thing I'm not sure on is the "Maintenance" of the printer. When it breaks then what. I've been told that as long as you print regularly that head dry or print clogs should be kept to a minimum. Like with anything you should maintain parts.

This printer is also a dime a dozen for about $150. To me thats cheap enough if something breaks I'll pick up a new one.

This thread really makes me want to by a 'real' printer that takes rolls. I should have stopped buying camera gear and got one instead.

The problem is a 13x19 printer is cheap, as soon as you want something substantially larger (and not square, aka 17x22) it gets expensive in a hurry. Since having my own printer I just can't be bothered to do external printing, so I guess I should really try that again. I just don't like not being in controll of exactly what the print looks like.

Should have bought a 'real' printer instead of a 5DIII I guess.

I print at home up to letter size on an Epson all in one Artisan 835 on CostCo paper, am actually surprised at the quality. Nothing calibrated in the print flow, either I'm lucky or not as discerning, but things look pretty much the way I expect them to.

Anything larger I outsource though, the printers are too expensive, I'd not print enough (there's a limit to wall space) and everything would just dry up. Our Costco does a pretty good job actually, and then there's Bay Photo not too far away.

I know way too little about printing and color spaces etc, just bought the book "Fine Art Printing" to learn a bit more. It's about 3 times as thick as I expected/hoped, LOL.

It would be a very long time (let alone the necessary additions to the house for wall space) before a large format printer would ever make sense in my case, as nice a new toy as it would be.

But back to topic, I agree that there's little to no difference between lenses or cameras for what I print, I've printed great images to letter size from iphone photos (surprisingly). 40D and 5D3 all print just fine, though I've never gotten a magnifying glass out to peep. The real benefit to me is the already mentioned higher range of possible cropping with higher res files.

The only times I print 4x6 is if somebody wants a snapshot or my wife wants to send pix of the kids to the great grandparents, personally I have no use for them, I'll never be organized enough to make actual albums and calendars I have printed directly.