Posted by Scott Borger on April 4, 2008 at 12:51 AM
I recently printed a 162 megapixel panoramic print for a cabin in the front range. The client originally wanted the 36" x 78" version, but settled for the smaller 30" x 65" version. The photo turned out tack sharp and took up a good portion of the wall behind the sofa. When I stood in front of it, I almost felt as if I were looking into the actual scene. Has anyone printed larger than this? If so, where do you go for such prints? I'd love to be able to print a 44" tall pano some day.
I've printed a few images at about this size. I have a 72" wide pano of the Grand Canyon hanging in my bedroom, and have sold a couple of 72" wide & 96" wide panos. I think that I did my own scanning and cleaning up, prep work, etc., but then had the images printed (LightJet) and mounted on gatorboard by Burne Photo Imaging, about a mile from my home. http://www.burne.com They're one of the best places in the midwest!
Come to the dark side Scott... 4X5 can produce a 180 megapixel (or more if grain permits) image from a single shot. Thats 40"X50" at 300ppi. And if you're completely insane, I suppose you could stitch a pair of 4X5 shots, or do like Tony L and go to 8X10.
As for your original question:
Richie has a 9600. Its a 44" printer and prints rolls. No idea what the length limit is, but I suppose some RIPs might let you print a very long pano. I suppose there are others, but Rich's prints are VERY good and I'd have no problem recommending him. Nat prints large too and the folks who have used his services here have had positive comments, so there's another option.
I don't know of anyone who has one of the 11880s or Canon's equivalent (9100?). These are 60" printers and again capable of printing in 60xN panoramic.
As I was mentioning to Evan, Duggal is probably the expert in GIANT format photographic printing. I have no idea how they print though and have no idea what their prices are. I don't expect them to be cheap as they are A) in NYC and B)primarily focused on advertising from my understanding.
BUT.... There is a catch. If you go beyond 48"X96" you're going to have a VERY difficult time getting it mounted. Duggal has some methods but I'm not sure what they are. Artist's showcase and other folks who do lamination are tied to available lumber sizes and 4'X8' is the size of plywood or particle board most commonly available. I think Erik mentioned that this is the size of their press/laminator/thingy and their max size. So unless you want to do a diptych or triptych its difficult to go larger.
Hope that's helpful to you.
And I'm not much of a panoramic shooter myself. I have 3 pano frames sitting in my closet ready for prints, but I never remember to shot panos and even if I did, its difficult to remember frame the shot to the specific dimensions required. I've only ever shot two panos (13X44) and they are not the correct proportions for the frames I've found. At least with the 4X5 I can look for those dimensions in a shot and crop out.
Mel-
Posted by Jack Brauer on April 4, 2008 at 10:28 AM
Looks great Scott! Must be awesome in person. I'm a big fan of big prints. The bigger the better, I say!
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on April 4, 2008 at 11:40 AM
Scott, I haven't printed anything larger, so I can't help with your question. Certainly mounting becomes a big issue.
I have a very similar Mesa Arch pano that I printed as a gift for my son. Unfortunately it ended up with some big bubbles during laminate mounting - so it needs to be redone. We'll have to get together and compare prints. Mine was from a few feet to the right - taken last September.
To get your 162MP pano - how many images did you stitch?
i.e. is the 162MP after uprezing for printing - or is that the resulting image size after stitching?
Posted by Scott Borger on April 4, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'll keep those in mind. Bill, I think that I had about a dozen shots, a very slight crop and a little bit of uprez. All frames taken in portrait orientation with a Canon 5D (12.8 MP).
Posted by Joseph Finn on April 4, 2008 at 12:08 PM
That is beautiful and impressive, who did the printing and mounting?
It's close to 10 feet wide at native resolution. I've never printed it - probably never will at this size!! It also needs a bit of clean up (as you can tell) and that will take some time!
Scott,
I have a couple of options for you. I can print 64" x what ever length on roll material, or I can print 5'x10' directly to any rigid substrate (foamboards, metals, acrylics, etc.) less than 2" thick.
Send me a note if your interested.
Thanks,
Vince
Posted by Scott Borger on April 6, 2008 at 8:10 PM
Thanks for all of the suggestions on printers, etc. Joe, to answer your question, Slideprinter printed this. They did a very good job on the mounting, but the colors don't exactly look like the original. I color profiled the image on my 24" calibrated monitor before printing. Regardless, it still turned out a bit dark and lacking color (red) in the forground. Perhaps this difference is the backlighting of a LCD monitor vs. printing? Any thoughts? The printed version looks very dark without a light source. When a light source is applied to this print, the highlights come alive.
Dave, I'm not sure how I kept other photographers out of the picture. It could have been the way that I smelled after living in the back of my 4Runner for close to 3 weeks and hiking every day...or my ritual of swinging my tripod in a large circle before each shot.
Scott, your issue with the print being dark is exactly what I faced with one of my panos - this one was huge too, shot as you did with a 5D in portrait orientation - 7 frames, gave me a 240MB file! It was of Zabriskie point at sunrise in Death valley. It looked stunning on my calibrated monitor with plenty of shadow details, but ended up too dark in the Fuji Supergloss print from a Chromira by West Coast Imaging. And this was a print on paper that has reputedly among the best Dmax and color saturation. I am quite puzzled by what to do, it does help when I see it outdoors - no easy task holding a 18" x 81" print outdoors! I did not print larger precisely because of the mounting problems.
Discussion
16 replies162 MP Pano: http://www.scottborger.com/photo.php?id=206&gallery=hidden
The outfit I use (MyPhotoPipe) only prints as large as 32 x 96.
I've printed a few images at about this size. I have a 72" wide pano of the Grand Canyon hanging in my bedroom, and have sold a couple of 72" wide & 96" wide panos. I think that I did my own scanning and cleaning up, prep work, etc., but then had the images printed (LightJet) and mounted on gatorboard by Burne Photo Imaging, about a mile from my home. http://www.burne.com They're one of the best places in the midwest!
Good luck,
Tim!
As for your original question:
Richie has a 9600. Its a 44" printer and prints rolls. No idea what the length limit is, but I suppose some RIPs might let you print a very long pano. I suppose there are others, but Rich's prints are VERY good and I'd have no problem recommending him. Nat prints large too and the folks who have used his services here have had positive comments, so there's another option.
I don't know of anyone who has one of the 11880s or Canon's equivalent (9100?). These are 60" printers and again capable of printing in 60xN panoramic.
As I was mentioning to Evan, Duggal is probably the expert in GIANT format photographic printing. I have no idea how they print though and have no idea what their prices are. I don't expect them to be cheap as they are A) in NYC and B)primarily focused on advertising from my understanding.
BUT.... There is a catch. If you go beyond 48"X96" you're going to have a VERY difficult time getting it mounted. Duggal has some methods but I'm not sure what they are. Artist's showcase and other folks who do lamination are tied to available lumber sizes and 4'X8' is the size of plywood or particle board most commonly available. I think Erik mentioned that this is the size of their press/laminator/thingy and their max size. So unless you want to do a diptych or triptych its difficult to go larger.
Hope that's helpful to you.
And I'm not much of a panoramic shooter myself. I have 3 pano frames sitting in my closet ready for prints, but I never remember to shot panos and even if I did, its difficult to remember frame the shot to the specific dimensions required. I've only ever shot two panos (13X44) and they are not the correct proportions for the frames I've found. At least with the 4X5 I can look for those dimensions in a shot and crop out.
Mel-
I have a very similar Mesa Arch pano that I printed as a gift for my son. Unfortunately it ended up with some big bubbles during laminate mounting - so it needs to be redone. We'll have to get together and compare prints. Mine was from a few feet to the right - taken last September.
To get your 162MP pano - how many images did you stitch?
i.e. is the 162MP after uprezing for printing - or is that the resulting image size after stitching?
As for printing, there are several folks on this forum who have 44" printers (Rich, Nat, me) who'd be happy to print for you.
I also know Reed can do large prints, but they are very pricey!
Speaking for large panos - here is a manually stitched pano made from 3 horizontal 4x5 shots:
http://www.renepirolt.com/Images/SnefPanoSmall2.jpg
It's close to 10 feet wide at native resolution. I've never printed it - probably never will at this size!! It also needs a bit of clean up (as you can tell) and that will take some time!
I have a couple of options for you. I can print 64" x what ever length on roll material, or I can print 5'x10' directly to any rigid substrate (foamboards, metals, acrylics, etc.) less than 2" thick.
Send me a note if your interested.
Thanks,
Vince
Dave, I'm not sure how I kept other photographers out of the picture. It could have been the way that I smelled after living in the back of my 4Runner for close to 3 weeks and hiking every day...or my ritual of swinging my tripod in a large circle before each shot.