I've been asked to quote for a shoot of a waist upwards portrait of someone in safety gear, on location. It will then be printed and stuck on a building covering 10 stories high and however wide. The dimensions of the building look about 3:2 so it looks like I wont need to crop too much.

The biggest print I've done was 30 or 50ft but that was a panorama stitch so had a lot more resolution to play with, this will just be a single shot.

I know there is a lot to say for viewing distance but I was wondering if the Mark II will be enough or whether this is really a job for medium format and film?

Thanks in advance.

i'd be surprised if 25ppi wasn't overkill. 1ppi is probably too low and 100 clearly too high.

Herb...

ok, thanks Herb, sounds good.

Trying to get end specs out of clients is a nightmare as they don't deal with the printer until the end product and then the printer mostly can't tell you anyway or you find out what they really need after you've spend 10 hours letting the computer upsize to rediculous sizes that you find out the next day aren't required. This was my experience with the 50ft print anyway. I'd like to avoid that this time.

Another question is how I am supposed to know how much sharpening to do to an image this size? Just do the normal amount or sharpening I would do for output or should I do more?

it will be printed in sections. Most likely at 25 dpi. The sections coming from a 1Ds Mark II will show no difference compared to the files coming from a(say) g2.
I did a fleet of trucks with a 1Ds original and the result was about the same compared to the previous image they had on the trucks, and took with a canon g2. (because I knew the photographer who took the previous picture and she had a g2 digital at the time)
In fact for another similar job I lost the bid and she won (again with g2 files)

Size doesn't always matter when printing big.

Thanks Markie, that puts my mind at ease. The client is saying with some of the other quotes she has had people are saying they will use film or medium format for it, so I'm getting stick from her about having the right equipment. I know that isnt the solution though, so I've asked for the final print dimensions and dpi and will take it from there, if they can provide them.

1Ds2 should be fine, without a doubt. If you want to wow her, rent a H3D or RZ67 with a P45 back

Jonathan H wrote:
If you want to wow her, rent a H3D or RZ67 with a P45 back

...and pass the rental cost onto her.

I'm ALWAYS happy to use gear other than what I own for a job - I just patiently explain to the client that they'll be the ones paying for it.

Are you doing the printing or is an agency dealing with the logistics of printing and installing the image? I have done stuff up to 35m (over 100ft) wide with as little as a D1h (2.1mb) in the old days and all I've ever done is give the add agency a full res image and let them deal with it.
Oh course the stupid kids that work for most of these agencies have no idea that the human eye can not see over 25dpi at 25m away, so I've often had to show them the way. Such is life.
Now with Nikon's and Canon's flagship tools, resolution is not a problem even for these kids that are pullin 100 grand a year.
Gav

I used to work for a service bureau that printed duratrans and duraprints for billboards. The resolution of the source file usually only has to cover between 15 and 25 dpi once ripped. In many instances the rasterizing software and printing material had more to do with the quality of the output than the file size. A good exposure with low noise is a major factor though in ensuring the best results. Many of the modern rip soutions for large signage feature the equivalent of fractal pro to ensure the source file can be enlarged to print the requisite DPI.

I've had a multiple blow-ups for building sides using the 5d and they came out just fine.

What's stopping you from making this a panorama stitch as well?

;-)

I've done production work for billboards that was 15ppi. 15ppi at actual size will be a large file but it won't be as large as 100ppi at actual size. Usually jpegs work for giving presses this type of art also - the stuff's meant to be seen from 100's of feet away.

Why not just rent a 1ds mk iii for a day? Get the extra 5mp. Or, rent a digital MF camera. Pass the expenses onto the client.

Napalm wrote:
Another question is how I am supposed to know how much sharpening to do to an image this size? Just do the normal amount or sharpening I would do for output or should I do more?


Will you be responsible for final Photoshopping (i.e. sharpening) or will they expect to do that?

Anyone remember years ago the T-Rex that was hung in Times Square in NYC? I would guess it was printed about 65, shot with a Nikon Coolpix 990 at the time with a resolution of 3.4MP

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0011/00110205coolpix990bigprint.asp

You should have no problems getting a quality image from the files for an image the size you are looking for with proper software for upsizing.