Zoom Browser, how to print with same quality

Hello,

I was wondering whether anyone can help. I have a Canon EOS 450D camera, I recently uploaded my photos to the Zoom Browser which is part of the software I was given when I bought the camera.
I have touched up my photos on zoom browser and burned them to a CD as I would like to print them to a canvas and some large prints. When I put my CD into the computer and view the images I had burned onto the CD I notice that the images have lost some of their sharpness and colour. Do I need a certain type of CD so that the images hold their sharpness and colour.
The photos look perfect on the zoom browser put how do you hold the quality so that i can print them. Could it be the program I open them up in on the computer,(windows picture gallery). I printed a few at tesco the other day and the colour and sharpness are not as good. Do I need to go to a professional printing shop.The Cd i used was a Kodak 52XCD-R, 700MD.
I would be very greatful if anyone could help

Ben Smith

Ben,

Bet you thought you had a fairly simple question? While the question may be simple the answer is VERY complicated.

Firstly, what colour mode do you shoot in? Typical choices would be ProPhotp, sRGB and AdobeRGB.

Next, what do you transfer them to into the computer? Same choices generally.

Third, is your PC colour managed (I suspect from your question it's not).

Fourth, are you viewing the CD images in the same software as the original? If not, is IT colour managed?

I could continue for maybe another twenty questions, but I'll stop there and let you think about it and let others come in.

What Richard wrote is entirely valid, but I'd like to explain further.

"Firstly, what colour mode do you shoot in?"
Many beginners fall into a sort of trap. They hear, read or are told that AdobeRGB will give them "more colors". But AdobeRGB is not suitable for viewing in a regular viewer or for posting to the web or for printing with most commercial labs. For these purposes set your camera's jpg output to sRGB.

"Third, is your PC colour managed ...Fourth, are you viewing the CD images in the same software as the original? If not, is IT colour managed?"
Unless your monitor is calibrated with a hardware calibrator and you view the image in a color managed program, like Zoombrowser, you will find it dificult to predict exactly how your prints will look. Simple viewers are not color managed, which is why AdobeRGB is not good for them.

So if your camera is indeed not set to sRGB, that is likely to be the source of your problem.