DougDolde
Well-known member
What I meant though is I think you would love doing your own printingAbsolutely - I don't do my own printing and actually have no interest in doing so, presently.
But I do want to understand the realistic print size limits of my current equipment and those of other DBs.
More importantly I want to know the pre-capture and post-capture steps involved in generating an output file yeilding the highest print quality.
At that point I'd be content with handing it over to a printing pro.
It's way cheaper than having a lab do it once you own the printer.
I bought an HP Z5200 44" wide printer last summer and it's been great. Has a built in spectrophotometer for creating your own paper profiles. I mostly print on canvas using files from my IQ180. I haven't tested the limits yet though. Canvas however is more forgiving than paper due to the weave. That said I am amazed how much detail is there in the print. My biggest prints are 36x48 and that works out to 210 dpi. Plenty in my book.
If I went to 60" wide, I would be down to 167 dpi which wouldn't look bad on canvas. One of these days I will try it.
My Drytac vacuum/heat press has a capacity of 42x66 so it is doable. The hardest part will be making a frame that large. 36x48 frames are somewhat harder to make than 30x40. Will have to see.