up sizing my Nikon D700 NEFS

[kuau]

In pursuit of making the best 20x30 from my D700 and print off my HPZ3200 PS 24" printer and after watching "From Camera to Print" which I purchased from this website, I am trying to figure out what's the best way to get my D700 Nef from 140PPI t 20x30 to at least 180PPI or better.
I am not sure if it's best just just double the resolution to 280PPI or just to what I need 180-240PPI
I am using Alien Skin Blow Up 2 to up scaling.

Is the general consensus to 1st do a capture/input sharpen before up scaling? I use PhotoKit Sharpener plus I do a pre sharpen using unsharp mask amount 20 radius 50 I picked this up from "From Camera to Print"


Steven

[PeterAit]

In pursuit of making the best 20x30 from my D700 and print off my HPZ3200 PS 24" printer and after watching "From Camera to Print" which I purchased from this website, I am trying to figure out what's the best way to get my D700 Nef from 140PPI t 20x30 to at least 180PPI or better.
I am not sure if it's best just just double the resolution to 280PPI or just to what I need 180-240PPI
I am using Alien Skin Blow Up 2 to up scaling.

Is the general consensus to 1st do a capture/input sharpen before up scaling? I use PhotoKit Sharpener plus I do a pre sharpen using unsharp mask amount 20 radius 50 I picked this up from "From Camera to Print"


Steven

Why the "pre-sharpen?" With those settings, IIRC, you do not get actual sharpening but some "bump" to local contrast.

My approach is to do a capture sharpen using PKS and then flatten the image - the idea being that you'll want this sharpening in the image no matter what you do with it. Then, the output sharpening is based on the print size and printer type, and is done after any-upsampling.

If you can believe FCTP, there's never an advantage to up-sampling beyond 180 (and my experience bears this out). The printer driver does the rest.

Anyway, why ask questions when you can try it for yourself?

Peter

[kuau]

Thanks Peter,

Yes I do the unsharp mask for a bump in local contrast. I got this from "FCTP"
Why don't I try it??
I was hoping someone else has already done the pain staking process and came up with a conclusion. Though I am in agreement with you 180PPI is ok and no need to go bigger.

What I am really interested in is a comparison between a D3X print at 20x30 at native resolution which is about 200PPI sized at 20x30 compared to a D700 upscaled to 180DPI printed 20x30 then viewed at 3 feet distance if you can see any difference.

Why the "pre-sharpen?" With those settings, IIRC, you do not get actual sharpening but some "bump" to local contrast.

My approach is to do a capture sharpen using PKS and then flatten the image - the idea being that you'll want this sharpening in the image no matter what you do with it. Then, the output sharpening is based on the print size and printer type, and is done after any-upsampling.

If you can believe FCTP, there's never an advantage to up-sampling beyond 180 (and my experience bears this out). The printer driver does the rest.

Anyway, why ask questions when you can try it for yourself?

Peter

[dgberg]

Use Lightroom and then go to Genuine Fractalls 6 for my uprezing. Does one heck of a job. We print mostly on canvas off of 17 and 24" rolls. This is how I set my ppi in GF6 and then in the print module in Lightroom
For paper sizes
8 1/2 X 11  - 360
11 X 17 - 300
19 X 22 - 240
24 X 30 - 180
Canvas sizes
17 X 22 -300
24 X 32 _240
24 X 36 and larger - 180
Works great!
All my images are shot with D2Xs or D300.