Genuine Fractals question - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

09/26/2006 08:00:05 PM · #1

My aunt has been put in charge of some minor redecorating at her office, including five prints for the conference room that would be in excess of a 24x36. And so she's come to me asking about prints. Of course my little 2mp and 5mp cameras won't print that large naturally, so I'm looking at Genuine Fractals as a possibility. The website FAQ says it will enlarge to 800% without image degradation, but I figured I'd run it by the crew here first. Has anyone tried to take a 2mp image and lace it up to a completely ridiculous and dramatic size? Is there anything out there better than GF? And then any tips for image preparation? This could be quite a windfall for me, so I really want to do this professionally and right.

Message edited by author 2006-09-26 20:00:31.

Joey Lawrence

PhaseOne P45

09/26/2006 08:25:44 PM · #2

I've gotten 24x36 prints here at DPC prints with my 5 megapixel Minolta.

I used Genuine Fractals too (fanks kiwi), but I noticed that in some areas of the photograph it would do an excellent job, while in other textures it wouldn't do so well. So I used genuine fractals on one image, and did a simple Image> Resize in PS on another, and put them on top of one another in layers in photoshop. Then I used the eraser tool to get rid of the parts in the top layer (Genuine Fractals) I didn't like, showing the other version below.

And ah yes, the prints looked great. :-D

Message edited by author 2006-09-26 20:26:08.

nicklevy

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

09/26/2006 08:28:50 PM · #3

One thing about these scalling software is the better image they have to start with the best they do their job. So you'll probably get better results doing a 400% enlargement starting with your 5MP than the same 400% enlargement starting with your 2MP. Second thing is that 800% is out of this world. I have been using GF for years now and I almost never went as far as 400% because I didn't like the results. I'd say 200% is really really good. 300% to MY taste and people could disagree here is the best enlargement you can plan to get out of this software before the quality start to get too poor. Third, yes this is hell of a software. it is a lot better than any resampling alogrythm in photoshop in ALMOST every aspect and if you're really willing to pay for a software that do resampling, there is no better place to spend your money than with Genuine Fractals. Just don't hope too much about that 800% thing. Hope this help.

09/26/2006 10:33:13 PM · #4

Originally posted by nicklevy:

It helps immensely. For the cost and size of the prints, and given that I don't have a PS version cool enough to run bicubic anyway, I'm perfectly willing to run the $160 purchase cost into my estimate. It seems rather miniscule compared to what the prints will cost, anyway. I'm going to play with the demo a bit and see what happens.

09/26/2006 10:36:01 PM · #5

Originally posted by Joey Lawrence:

I've got a 20x30 on my wall from my 5mp, too, but would I sell it to someone? I'm not too sure about that. I've also got two 16x20 prints from my 2mp camera, but I don't think anyone is going to mistake them for professional photography (mostly blurry sepias of Italy for some atmosphere in my dining room). The largest I've been willing to go for sale with my 5mp is a 16x20, and an 8x10 with the 2mp. So yeah, that Aunt Barb is talking about "small" 20x30 prints and several larger than that is rather intimidating without some way to supersize everything.

Message edited by author 2006-09-26 22:38:51.

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

09/26/2006 10:44:57 PM · #6

Ahh, crap, the system requirements hate my PS 5.5! So I can't even play with the demo. No stand alone on this one?

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

09/26/2006 11:08:21 PM · #7

Originally posted by karmabreeze:

No stand alone on this one?

There used to be ... I haven't kept up with their versions though.

KevinRiggs

Canon EOS-1Ds

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

09/27/2006 12:51:44 AM · #8

Karmabreeze, I sent you a PM that should allow you to try the old stand alone version of Genuine Fractals.

yanko

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Carl Zeiss 50mm ZE f/1.4 Planar T for Canon

09/27/2006 12:58:21 AM · #9

Originally posted by Joey Lawrence:

Those that you upsized were they heavily dodged and burned images? I would think those would resize better since they already have a smooth look to them.

09/27/2006 01:25:12 AM · #10

Originally posted by KevinRiggs:

Karmabreeze, I sent you a PM that should allow you to try the old stand alone version of Genuine Fractals.

Got it, thank! I'll have to play with it tomorrow night.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

09/27/2006 12:17:41 PM · #11

Drat - the stand alone even requires PS7.

Well, chances are excellent that I could be getting CS2 for my birthday next week, and there's no huge rush on the job, so I'll wait and see what happens.

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

09/27/2006 12:25:59 PM · #12

Two things:

Bear in mind that posters are rarely printed at full 300dpi resolution. 120-150dpi is more than enough for a decent print.

If this is going to be a regular or lucrative thing, you might consider an inexpensive camera that's capable of producing clean images at a higher resolution.

OK, three things... GF might work with Photoshop Elements, which is less than $100.

Message edited by author 2006-09-27 12:27:11.