How large can I print??
 

I have a Canon 30d. It's only 8mpxls. How large can I print a photograph?? Can I do 16x20? I have a client that is requesting this, I don't want to commit to the job unless I know.
Thanks for any Ideas!!

Kathryn,

I have printed 20x30 from my 20D, and it looked great.
Heck, I have even printed a 12x18 from my G2 and it looked good.

Shoot RAW and save as a TIFF after you edit the RAW file.
It will give the printers a better file to work from.

Oh, and welcome to the forum. :)

Thanks! I guess I just needed a confidence boost!!

You can also look into getting Genuine Fractals from OnOne Software.. helps with enlargements...

You also have to think about the distance ratio. If you take the print at a 20x30 and look at it up close it will be "poor quality" but if you put the image on a wall and stand back 6-8' as you would to view it it will be fine. Billboard size prints are possible if you figure it would be viewed from a few hundred feet away

I print at 20x30 and 24x36 regularly and have no problem
with image quality up close as long as I run the image through Genuine Fractals first.. Of course that turns my 20mb tif into a 200 mb file but it still prints great..

My 20x30 posters were plastered all over the place.
They were put on the sides of cubicle walls where people walked right next to them.
They were not "poor quality".

In fact, I did three of them.
There were people in two of them, and when they closed the place, both Mario and Eddie took a poster home to show their families.
The third shot, I found that another guy had squandered one to take home because it was of his toolset.

Genuine Fractals sounds nice but real pricey at $299??? ouch can't afford it...

Used 20x30 as an example to compare "small" to HUGE prints. Basically you can use any camera to print larger files will just loose quality as they get larger.