Big Prints

[Tim Armes]

Hello,

I've recently won a project than'll involved upsizing my photos by up to 700%. I'm therefore testing several competing products to see which one will deliver the best results.

Has anyone here done any significant testing on quality upsizing programs? I'd like to hear about your experiences. I'm using a Mac so please don't suggest QImage!

So far Genuine Fractals has produced the best final image, however I'm getting an unexplained colour shift that I'm not seeing in the other products. In particular, the shift happens in skin tones. It's similar to the type of shift I'd expect if the embedded color profile gets lost, except that it doesn't happen over the entire image (and the profile is still there). Is this a known issue?

I've tested Alien Skin's Blow Up too, but the result isn't as good as GF 5.

Thanks,

Tim

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Hello,

I've recently won a project than'll involved upsizing my photos by up to 700%. I'm therefore testing several competing products to see which one will deliver the best results.

Has anyone here done any significant testing on quality upsizing programs? I'd like to hear about your experiences. I'm using a Mac so please don't suggest QImage!

Okay, I won't suggest that Qimage runs on a Mac when using 'Virtual PC' or 'Parallels'

.

So far Genuine Fractals has produced the best final image, however I'm getting an unexplained colour shift that I'm not seeing in the other products.

I haven't seen the difference between the latest GF version versus its earlier incarnations, but found the latter results way too posterized at gradients (and with artificially sharp edges) for my taste.

You could try SizeFixer XL, they'll have a Mac trial-version 'soon' (whenever that is). You'll probably need the XL version rather than the SLR version, depending on the intended output size. The results I get on a Windows XP platform are good although with some added noise due to the method used. It does attempt to extract the most information out of the file it can, without inventing artificial looking results, unless instructed to do so.

Anyway, resampling to 700% is a lot, and the result will consist mostly of invented data, so do make sure it looks natural for the intended viewing distance, otherwise it will look big and ugly.

Bart

 

[Tim Armes]

Thanks for the reply Bart. I've contacted FixerLabs and they'll up-res one of my images to give me a point of comparison. The trial version will be ready in October.

I'll print both the GF version and the SizeFixer version and compare them in print.

Tim

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Thanks for the reply Bart. I've contacted FixerLabs and they'll up-res one of my images to give me a point of comparison. The trial version will be ready in October.

Tim, that's useful feedback.

I'll print both the GF version and the SizeFixer version and compare them in print.

Do let us know what your findings are, there may be others that can benefit. I have found that the particular algorithm(s) used can produce (ringing) artifacts on some architectural images, which can only be reduced by pulling back on the effectiveness of the detail preservation. But for natural/landscape structured and smooth surfaces it is quite good, slow, but good. It, as usual, depends on image content and required end result which method works best.

Bart

 

[Paul Caldwell]

One more to consider

I would also try Photozoom Pro 2. www.benvista.com

They have a demo version you can pull down.
I have usegrd all the others you have referenced. The final result is very dependent on the image you are uprezing. I have found the following to be true in my work.

GF, I haven't worked with in a over a year, but used it quite a bit earlier. I believe the last version I had used was GF 2.5 or 3.0. I always found that with GF I had issues with the final result producing a blotchy look on certain parts of images, (rocks, lichens, ) but it did very well not over reacting to noise in my work.

Sixfixer, (see my old review on outbackphoto.com) I still use it but I have moved more to photozoom pro 2.0. I didn't ever use Sizefixer XL, only the SLR version, net it was a problem to use since it needs all the exif info from the shot. I often will use non Canon glass in my work, thus no Exif info for the aperture and focal length. I had to edit this back into the files. Other big issue was speed and the fact that on a larger 1ds MKII file, often the program would stop mid way through the uprez, requiring you to cut the file in half, uprez the halfs and then put them back together. It's my understanding that the latest version of both SLR and XL has this issue fixed, but I can't confirm it. Sizefixer will also have some issues with noise if you use their best setting, and it can create a haloing around objects in the file.

Photozoom 2.2 (just chked on latest version)
Offers many options for algorighims, their specific is Spline XL I often use the Spline on Macro work, but have found that on landscapes with alot of details, you will get a overworked look on many parts of the object. When this occurs, I will use their Lanczos filter. The Spline XL is easier on noise however. Photozoom is faster but I don't know if it will go up to a 700% uprez, the largest I have done is 400%.

All of these tools will work on the Mac

Paul Caldwell

 

[Paul Caldwell]

One other thought

I would also experiment with a combination of lower final dpi and total % uprez. Many times I can get a good output at around 120 to 180 dpi and thus not have to uprez to as great a percentage. It's all dependent on how close the final work will be viewed.

Paul C

 

[Paul Caldwell]

sizefixer update

I hadn't checked their site in a while, as you know, they are now at 1.2.1vr8 for Win and are coming out with a version for mac soon. I still had 1.0.0 for XL and it was available for mac and win. It's interesting to note that when sizefixer first came out, the XL version was only available for mac, now it's the reverse.

I ran a few 1ds files through XL 1.0.0 which was sent to me by Sizefixer as a fix version to some of the issues I had pointed out in my review. The results were promising, however the speed was still quite slow, but I didn't see the shut down at around the1/2 point. Did one at 150% and one at 200% from the original, both with the super rez feature (which is the best possible in Sizefixer) and found the results were better than I remembered from past work.

Downloading the more current version to see if it runs faster with same good results.

BTW, Tim, if you want to send me a file to work up, I would be more than happy to do it for you, with both Photozoom and Sizefixer XL.
Paul Caldwell
pcaldwe@hotmail.com

 

[Giovanni Brembati]

Hi tim, I can suggest PhotoResamplig software (http://www.photoresampling.com). More than 9 algorithms to resample images. I suggest GBLS algorithm for upsize up to 200%.
It's a windows software but I think you can use it also on MAC with softwares like parallels or bootcamp.

Jacopo