APS-C camera for big prints?

4 years 4 months ago #667973 by Pat White
Short question for me today, are APS-C cameras as good as Full frame cameras for large prints?  I know if you have iPhone, while you can print photos from that nicely up to a certain size.  I'm sure those rules apply to what ever camera you have, that the prints get better as sensor size increases.  But can you bring large prints with a APS-C sensor?  


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4 years 4 months ago #667975 by garyrhook

Pat White wrote: Short question for me today, are APS-C cameras as good as Full frame cameras for large prints?  I know if you have iPhone, while you can print photos from that nicely up to a certain size.  I'm sure those rules apply to what ever camera you have, that the prints get better as sensor size increases.  But can you bring large prints with a APS-C sensor?  


Define "large"?

Greater resolution affords a larger print, but print size is also dependent upon viewing distance. Larger prints, you're farther away, so you need fewer pixels per inch in your resolution. 

The usual metric is 300 picture elements per inch (in your image file). However, for large prints (16x20) you can go down to 240, easily, or less. For canvas, less, although I've seen some amazingly detailed canvases, so it kinda depends upon the material, the image and the printer. Anything that uses emulsion transfer (aluminum, wood, whatever) may suffer in sharpness.

For any of them, you have to experiment.

But keeping the discussion on simple prints, I had no trouble printing my 16MP images at 16"x24" and being quite happy. I also printed a 4MP image a 2'x3' for over the fireplace, and was completely satisfied.

You'll note that none of this is concerned with the sensor size. Only the resolution. Which is the only thing that matters.

How's that for a non-answer?


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4 years 4 months ago #667976 by garyrhook
On a related note: for certain subjects, you can take multiple, overlapping images with any camera, and create a larger composite from them. I've got panorama landscape images from my D750 that are 15,000 pixels wide. Not too hard to do.


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4 years 4 months ago #667989 by effron
Apples and oranges, sensor size means little. Example, my D7100 (aps-c, or crop) can make a "larger" print than my D700, (full frame). 
Hook mentioned resolution and he's spot on.

Why so serious?
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4 years 4 months ago #668041 by Crammer
+1 all good points.

How large are you trying to print?


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4 years 4 months ago #668135 by Paris Gal
If Apple can print billboards from an iPhone photo, I'm sure you can figure out how to get super large prints from your APS-C sensor.   Try tiling your shots.  

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