Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/10/13

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: [Leica] Genuine Fractals-any good?
From: philippe.orlent at pandora.be (Philippe Orlent)
Date: Wed Oct 13 10:10:44 2004

If I remember correctly the difference between PS upsizing and via fractals
is that in the case of upsizing, the computer invents new (unexisting)
pixels which leads to an overall blurry feeling as opposed to fractal
upscaling where the endresult leads to an equally blurry feeling except for
the edges, that tend to stay sharp(er). I've seen examples of both, and in
all honesty, I didn't see that much difference.
If you're starting from slides or negs, it might be better to buy a scanner
with a higher dpi output (Konica Minolta Scan Elite 5400 f.i.). It's more
expensive, but it 'll get you better results.
The general rule is: you never can compensate for a lack of pixels.

If you upsize in PS, the blurriness stays acceptable if you push your image
to 360 dpi, starting from a 300 dpi image without constraining proportions.

In digital, a 5 megapixel camera should already give you the size they need,
if you slightly push your RAW format, and deliver tiff or eps.

Another way of dealing with this (but it doesn't always work), is
vectorizing your image via Adobe Streamline. It needs a lot of computer
power to get to an acceptable level, though.
---
> From: Nathan Wajsman <nathan.wajsman@planet.nl>
> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
> Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 18:47:41 +0200
> To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
> Subject: [Leica] Genuine Fractals-any good?
> 
> I have decided to see if I can sell some photos via a UK stock agency.
> Maybe I can pay for a lens this way, who knows. Anyway, they have
> minimum size requirements (48 MB for color, 16 MB for grayscale) and
> suggest Genuine Fractals for upsampling if needed. I checked on their
> web site, and the version I would need is $150 with no free trial
> period. So, before I buy: is this any good? Specifically, if I need to
> turn an 18 MB Photoshop file into a 48 MB TIFF file, will the results be
> any good? Or am I just wasting my money?
> 
> TIA,
> Nathan
> -- 
> Nathan Wajsman
> Almere, The Netherlands
> 
> General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com
> Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 


In reply to: Message from nathan.wajsman at planet.nl (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Genuine Fractals-any good?)