10.1MP prints...

First off; I'm not sure if this is the right place for this, so mods; feel free to move this around!

My grandmother is wanting a LARGE print for a big, fancy, gallery frame that she already owns.
Long story short; she needs\wants a 37" x 24" print.

Here is my question: Can I even print a 10.1MP photo from my 40D, that big??
Will I need to up-size it somehow, to help out the quality of the photo\print?

Thanks for the help!

It should look ok. Resize the picture in photoshop Image>Image Size Set the document size in inches to the dimensions you want and make sure you have " Bicubic Smoother-Best for enlargement" selected at the bottom of the image size window. After you do that go to View>Print Size and you can see what it looks like at those dimensions, it's gonna be kinda soft obviously but will probably look fine as long as your nose isn't up against it (It's gonna be a HUGE 21+mb file btw). The other ( and much better) route is using the Genuine Fractals software, which costs a couple hundred bucks I think. Although there may be someone here willing to do it for you with that software if you ask around. Good luck.

Depending on the lab you are using, They may have the software to handle the resize and it will do a much better job and save you from buying software. Check with them.

I've done 20X30 prints and 6'X4' wall clings with the 40D; They looked great and the customer was happy.

Mike R wrote in post #8831049
Depending on the lab you are using, They may have the software to handle the resize and it will do a much better job and save you from buying software. Check with them.

My "lab" is a friend, with 2 huge, HP large-format printers (not sure of the model #, in case you were interested)... He doesn't have the software, so my best bet would be to do the photoshop upsize process, that 10megapixel suggested.

I'm just mainly worried, because the photo she wants printed isn't exactly the sharpest at 100%... I have the photo she wants printed, printed at 20x24 and it looks really nice, I'm just afraid the extra 17"x0" will be too much (Wow, now that I think about it.... That's a REALLY abnormal size, isn't it?)

Tumeg wrote in post #8835321
My "lab" is a friend, with 2 huge, HP large-format printers (not sure of the model #, in case you were interested)... He doesn't have the software, so my best bet would be to do the photoshop upsize process, that 10megapixel suggested.

I'm just mainly worried, because the photo she wants printed isn't exactly the sharpest at 100%... I have the photo she wants printed, printed at 20x24 and it looks really nice, I'm just afraid the extra 17"x0" will be too much (Wow, now that I think about it.... That's a REALLY abnormal size, isn't it?)

Another suggestion is after you re-size the photo try... Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask

Set amount at 100%
Radius at 1 pixel
Threshold at 0 levels

See if that helps a little bit.

Well, normal printing-dpi would start at 300 I believe, and with 3888 dots (pixels) devided onto 37" you get approximately 105 dpi (2592 / 24 ~ 108). Should be OK, but printing is a field I have little experience with. You could try with 105 dpi on smaller prints, and show them to her.

Knowing most grandparents she will be happy regardless of how it looks. My girlfriend printed a 22x34 from her XTi one time. Though we did use a software to boost the resolution a little bit. As long as you have a few feet inbetween you and the print it looks incredible.

JoeyBowman wrote in post #8837392
Knowing most grandparents she will be happy regardless of how it looks. My girlfriend printed a 22x34 from her XTi one time. Though we did use a software to boost the resolution a little bit. As long as you have a few feet inbetween you and the print it looks incredible.

+1
(we're the only nuts that would stand too close to it and examine every inch of it.)

If the frame is that odd of a size, you may wish to try matting to a more manageable size and aspect ratio.

tkbslc wrote in post #8838155
If the frame is that odd of a size, you may wish to try matting to a more manageable size and aspect ratio.

Yeah, I will need to go over there and measure it myself to be 100% on the size, and matting, etc. (Not trying to be an 'age-ist' here, but you know how old(er) people can be :-p )