Requesting Input on Upsizing Software

drdane

I'm planning to get an Upsizing program, and some plugins for PS, and would appreciate hearing of your experience with such critters. Most everyone's heard about Genuine Fractals, but I'm more inclined towards one called SizeFixer http://www.fixerlabs.com

Here's a review http://www.outbackphoto.com/workflow/wf_92/essay.html
Seems like a good review, as it covers the cons, too.

They have free downloads for 30 day trial.
The current price for SizeFixer is $135 (dwnld version).
If bundled with their 4-Plugin bundle, the SizeFixer price drops to $87.75

bundle goes for $70 and includes a cool one to correct OOF

Have any of you used SizeFixer, or compared it to GF?

Thanks!

pathfinder

Genuine Fractals is available on their website until Dec 31 for $79.95

Blow UP has been mentioned with good comments too, but GF has the longest history that I know of. I guess I don't make big enough images, as I just use Photoshop if needed.

Sam

Pathfinder beat me to it. I just downloaded GF, and ran one test. PS bicubic Smoother is very good, so it might do everything you need, but my test showed that GF did a little better job, at least on my test print.

I just got a Canon ipf5000, and it seems to prefer 600ppi files, so I am starting to up-res a lot more than ever, and want the maximum quality I can get.

Pathfinder: You have an Epson, do you up-res to 360ppi, or 720ppi? Does the Epson benifit by a 720ppi file, versus a 360ppi file?

Sam

pathfinder

Sam, I have never tried different resolutions for printing - I tend to use 300ppi just because I am lazy, and have never really sat down and printed several images for comparisons at 240, 300, 360, 600 et al.

I may not be that critical of a viewer I guess.

You like 600ppi for the IPF5000? I have been eyeing that machine. That one and the Epson 3800 both look like really great printers.

Are you uprezzing bigger than needed and then sharpening for printing and then down rezzing? I am reading Bruce Fraser's Real World Sharpening Book - Some neat new tricks with sharpening on layers with a mask there.

I guess I'll have to compare a 360 versus a 720 ppi file and see what I find out

drdane

Sam wrote:

Pathfinder beat me to it. I just downloaded GF, and ran one test. PS bicubic Smoother is very good, so it might do everything you need, but my test showed that GF did a little better job, at least on my test print.

I just got a Canon ipf5000, and it seems to prefer 600ppi files, so I am starting to up-res a lot more than ever, and want the maximum quality I can get.

Pathfinder: You have an Epson, do you up-res to 360ppi, or 720ppi? Does the Epson benifit by a 720ppi file, versus a 360ppi file?

Sam

Hi, Sam!

I recall that West coast Imaging uses Epson 9800's - and I saw something recently (I think on their site - but I can't find it there now) that stated they used something like 330, though it might have been 360 for that printer. Calling Epson and asking for the "native resolution" of your new printer might be of some help. Some printers simply take what you give them and convert it to their native res anyway. If that is true here, anything over that would be wasted, and possibly even worse.

Sam

pathfinder wrote:

Sam, I have never tried different resolutions for printing - I tend to use 300ppi just because I am lazy, and have never really sat down and printed several images for comparisons at 240, 300, 360, 600 et al.

I may not be that critical of a viewer I guess.

You like 600ppi for the IPF5000? I have been eyeing that machine. That one and the Epson 3800 both look like really great printers.

Are you uprezzing bigger than needed and then sharpening for printing and then down rezzing? I am reading Bruce Fraser's Real World Sharpening Book - Some neat new tricks with sharpening on layers with a mask there.

I guess I'll have to compare a 360 versus a 720 ppi file and see what I find out

Pathfinder,

I have read the Epson’s are designed for 360, or 720, and I believe the printer will up-res the file to meet that criteria, so the info I have been given is to up-res in PS, or third party software, rather than let the printer do it.

The ipf5000 definitely benefits from getting a 600ppi file. I was surprised to see that much of a positive quality improvement after what seems like a big increase in pixel count.

I did send a number of images to the ipf5000 at 277ppi (the ppi just came out that way after increasing the image size without any interpolation), and they looked great to me at the time.

I am no printing expert, but I am now getting what I consider to be outstanding prints in color, and B&W.

With regard to sharpening, I am starting to play with this a little. I have up-resed smaller files that I have already sharpened, and that are printing out great. When I tried to sharpen a file after up-ressing I ran into some issues. It seemed like I had to sharpen excessively to see any change. I need to explore this more. I always thought it was better to sharpen after up-ressing, but maybe all I need to do is get the sharpening correct in the smaller file. Also might have something to do with the file size which much larger at 600ppi, and 16 bit. The ipf5000 can take advantage of the additional data in a 16 bit file so I am starting to process what I think are my best photos at 16 bit. Sure as heck slows the computer down.

I just got through taking an image that was sized at 6X9, at 485ppi, and 16 bit, and up-ressed to 12 X 18 at 600ppi, 16 bit, and printed it. I couldn’t ask for any thing better. Of course the file size is a little larger than I would like at 445 MB.


Sam