Your Online Resource Centre
Digital Camera Images How Large Can You Go
By: Ann Green
The price of ink for home printers may be the one price besides that of petrol that frequently infuriates consumers. It doesn't take long for the cost of ink-cartridge replacements to exceed the price of the printer. A large format, hi-resolution photographic print can drain entire refills, if the printer is capable to handle larger formats at all. Freeing digital camera users from the limits of their inkjet printer is a niche some professional online labs like are catering for.
Exposure to light, heat, ozone and air pollution causes the ink used in home printers to fade. Recent research carried out by ?Wilhelm Imaging Research? found that ?refilled cartridges often produce photos that begin to noticeably degrade in a number of months.? Using real photographic paper on large format lab equipment, professional photo labs produce results, which tend to look 'richer', and are more durable with regard to handling by sweaty fingers, humid environments, and fading in daylight.
Unlike printed images which produce a perceived colour through different coloured dots from a limited number of basic colours, lab processed images produce the exact colour for every pixel. A test with a 1 MB jpeg at http://fotoinsight.com produced a very well perceived, hi-res result on 30?x20? (50x75 cm) poster.
Online poster printing services also come handy when producing mini print runs for advertisements, charts or logos for conferences or exhibitions.
Ann Green is a mother of two children and has lived and worked in Spain, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Ireland and the UK. She frequently writes about software start-ups, the internet society, photography and digital art. |
