Interpolation

[FrankG]

To submit to a stock agency and comply with their requirements, I have to up-res my Canon 5D files 120 % to get them up to 50MB from their 36MB native 8 bit size.
I can either use PS bicubic smoother or Genuine Fractals 5 - PS is a lot faster (I have set the GF texture controls to the minimum).
Is there any reason GF may be better ? Or is there a better option that what I have currently available?
I am interested in mauntaining highest quality and avoiding artifacts or noise - it's bad enough that my camera is undersized.

Thanks
Frank

[LoisWakeman]

Look into Qimage Pro - I have upressed 5Mb files to print very nicely at 20x16 in the past - no idea what the file size was, but must have been much more than you need!

http://ddisoftware.com/qimage/

[bill t.]

I think GF is best for rather extreme enlargements, where it seems to act mainly by recasting the image to sharp appearing polygonal shapes.  You can get almost the same result from Smart Sharpen with high values on the Highlight and Shadow sliders.

PS Image Size should do a fine job for your slight enlargement.  If you feel the enlarged image needs sharpening, go back and try comparing Bicubic Sharper instead of Bicubic Smoother, I have a few finely textured images where that works better compared to using a subsequent slight Smart Sharpen step.