D700 large enough for billboards?

[Skipper]

Hi:

Is the D700 adequate to take photos that will be billboards? I mean, real billboards over the highway. Thanks.

[NJMurphy]

'Real billboards' over highways are printed with extremely coarse halftone screens, so the size of the file isn't really a consideration. And if someone is hiring you to shoot billboards, they'll know what to do to reproduce the images to size.

When I say 'coarse halftone screens' I'm referring to the number of dots per inch. Magazines may print using anything from 150 to 200 dots per inch (aka a 150 or 200 line screen), i.e., very fine, so that the dots aren't apparent at a normal (10-18 inch) viewing distance. Billboards may use anything as low 25 or even 6 dots per inch, since they're not going to be looked at closer than fifty or sixty feet, minimum.

I used to work in the color separation trade; I was a drum scanner operator in the 1980's and 90's. My scanner (a Crosfield 646) could generate anything from a 9 line up to a 300 line screen. One time I took a fairly simple photograph and scanned it twice, once at 300 lines and at 9 lines, then had proofs made. I mounted the two images side-by-side at the end of a twenty-foot long hallway. From twenty feet away, they were identical in quality, it was only as you walked towards them that the difference became obvious. Most clients were pretty amazed at the illusion.

[AstroImager]

'Real billboards' over highways are printed with extremely coarse halftone screens, so the size of the file isn't really a consideration. And if someone is hiring you to shoot billboards, they'll know what to do to reproduce the images to size.

When I say 'coarse halftone screens' I'm referring to the number of dots per inch. Magazines may print using anything from 150 to 200 dots per inch (aka a 150 or 200 line screen), i.e., very fine, so that the dots aren't apparent at a normal (10-18 inch) viewing distance. Billboards may use anything as low 25 or even 6 dots per inch, since they're not going to be looked at closer than fifty or sixty feet, minimum.

I used to work in the color separation trade; I was a drum scanner operator in the 1980's and 90's. My scanner (a Crosfield 646) could generate anything from a 9 line up to a 300 line screen. One time I took a fairly simple photograph and scanned it twice, once at 300 lines and at 9 lines, then had proofs made. I mounted the two images side-by-side at the end of a twenty-foot long hallway. From twenty feet away, they were identical in quality, it was only as you walked towards them that the difference became obvious. Most clients were pretty amazed at the illusion.

Murph's correct (as usual)
Your D700 will be fine. I did several billboards for local realty companies with a Canon XTi, they looked terrific.

Paul

[Skipper]

Thank you very much guys! I appreciate it. Interesting about the DPI....

[suci]

I'm sure Murph and Astro know. I once shot a group on 120 film which was used for a billboard and was real worried about it. The group was receiving a safety award and of course they lined up where they worked; inside the Carbon baking room. The room was hundreds of feet long, with black carbon dust settled on everything, so the negative was quite a bit under exposed.
They wouldn't let me reshoot so it went out like that. The billboard looked fine.

[Skipper]

Thanks Suci. Good story. What a relief that it all worked out.

[Sharna]

Thanks for asking about this Skipper. When I shoot the races a lot of them like to have the images blown up real big for their families or their doctors offices *had that request a time or two* and I always worry if they will print up that big and still look as sharp as they look on my screen at full resolution. I've never had them come back and say they weren't sharp enough though. LOL

Thanks Again!