Need to find: digital print shop, 11x17 image

[Vagabond142]

If this is the wrong section of the forum for this question, mods please move it to the correct section

As I am sure many of the photographers in this section have done "blow up" prints (20+ inch, posters, banners of photos, etc), I was wondering if I could tap into that wonderful knowledge and find where to get an art piece I commissioned printed.

The details:

-Image is .TIFF, high quality, lossless, digital source (I will have other formats soon, including .psd)
-400 DPI (I would like the DPI to be 1:1, hence the trouble I'm having in finding a shop that does over 300DPI)
-11x17 native (I would like to get it printed 1:1, most common shops stop at 14 inches max width/height :\)

I would like it to be on convention art board, matte. That is fairly heavy board, I think 100 lbs or so, although I'm not sure exactly (will ask the artist for specifics as he works in the comic book industry).

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide

[Modelexis]

300 DPI or PPI?

300 DPI is pretty horrible.

I used to work for a place that had their normal printer that printed 1080dpi and even that quality wasn't amazing.

150 PPI is the most you need.

I doubt a naked eye can see the difference between 150 and 300 dpi.



also, 100lb art board? for a 17" print? lol

If I was you, I would lower the PPI until I got to around 21"x32" and whatever the PPI becomes.

[Vagabond142]

Elexis:

Thing is, all prints I've bought before have been limited edition preprinted or con prints by artists on good hard board... this is the first I'm the one responsible for the print, so I'm going into it really blind x_x

I just seem to remember a couple of artists saying at the Calgary Con that the regular print board is 100 lbs bristol or some such.

I just want it to look absofuckinglutely awesome The scan was 400DPI when he scanned it in to color it, and it's saved at that resolution.

[gogreen]

I'm still rather new to the photography business myself and have recently started exploring options for having large prints made. I'm also new to Calgary, so I'm curious to see what some of the other photographers on here would recommend.

However, I do know that Vistek is able to print at sizes up to 40" x 60", and also offer mounting and laminating services. I don't know how their quality, customer service, and prices stack up to others, though, and I don't know what their maximum print resolution is.

I also agree with Modelexis. If the image is 400 ppi (i.e. pixels per inch) at 11x17, then you could actually print it at a slightly lower resolution and larger size without sacrificing too much image quality (300 ppi is referred to as "photo quality"). The requirement will depend on the distance at which the print is viewed. For instance, billboards are printed at low resolution but are meant to be viewed from long distances, so the print resolution doesn't need to be very high in order to achieve an acceptable image quality.

[Vagabond142]

gogreen: min view distance would be tip-of-nose, max would probably be 20-25 feet. It would be mounted and framed.

edit: http://www.vistek.ca/digitalphoto/la..._printing.aspx <---- I'll definitely give them a drive by tomorrow so I can see what that print quality is like (they have an 11x17 size! Fine art print is $30, which is extremely reasonable)

[Go4Long]

hehe...400 PPI is complete and total overkill...the native resolution of the Epson 9900 (which vistek uses last time I checked) is 360 ppi. I've personally printed a photo mosaic on my 9900 that the resolution ended up at just under 300ppi and you could hold it up to your face and see all the tiny details in the shots that were being used to make up the mosaic...still probably the coolest thing I've printed to date.

Also, unless there's a reason someone is going to be getting right up to the image (ie a tiny detail that will draw people in) the chances of anyone ever actually standing with their nose up to an 11 X 17 is very slim.

[Vagabond142]

Originally posted by Go4Long
hehe...400 PPI is complete and total overkill...the native resolution of the Epson 9900 (which vistek uses last time I checked) is 360 ppi. I've personally printed a photo mosaic on my 9900 that the resolution ended up at just under 300ppi and you could hold it up to your face and see all the tiny details in the shots that were being used to make up the mosaic...still probably the coolest thing I've printed to date.

Also, unless there's a reason someone is going to be getting right up to the image (ie a tiny detail that will draw people in) the chances of anyone ever actually standing with their nose up to an 11 X 17 is very slim.

This, plus the other advice given, has been really helpful I make no claim to being a printer geek, so I just would like the best quality I can get at the 11x17 size, and it sounds like 300 DPI (the max most shops will do on "oversize" pieces) will do just fine.

Thanks all ^_^

[Idratherbsidewayz]

This guy did great work for me when I needed a 1ft x 4ft panorama done:

http://www.jbdigital.ca/

[mikev1]

Try www.customphotoprinting.com

Epson 9900 is used as well and much cheaper than vistek.