Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Hi all, I need some advice and I was hoping that someone here will be able to help.

I just received an email from my dad telling me he needs to pick up a camera, which his company is paying for, to be used for an in studio fashion photo shoot within 2 days.

He needs to be able to print the photos out at 9 feet x 5 feet. He didn't mention how close the people will be to the images.

What would your advice be for a camera? I don't really know the whole "printing" world and so I don't know how many megapixels will be required to get a 9 x 5 foot image. I assume the DPI will play a part in the printing process as will the viewing distance.

Are we talking about a Hasselblad or will something like a Nikon D3S/D3X suffice?

Thanks!

To be safe your talking Phase One 40mb - 60mb system or maybe even a Leica S2(?) or the inexpensive Pentax 645D(?).

35mm sensors and have diffraction limits at about 30meg pixels at f5.6. These limitations depending on requirements may or may not make it possible to obtain a suitable production shot.

Medium format doesn't have the same limitations until a much higher megapixel count.

Hasselblad backs and ergonomics at the moment are not up to Phase One and you have to pay almost twice as much for any of their lenses.

Medium format yes

Id get a hassleblad cause they are so cool.

Wait a sec. Fashion shoot? Why not just hire the right pro photographer who will likely already have a medium format camera to use? A lot cheaper.

Ok, honestly.... Yes, a medium format camera will render more image quality, but I've seen murals produced with images shot on a D2x that looked just fine. The key is in the processing... Run through "Genuine Fractals" or such, and you'll be fine. I once had a D2h image printed 5' wide, you would have never known that the source was a 4 megapixel camera. It was genuine fractals that did theprocessing of the image.

So ya, a D3S would do fine if he wants to spend the cash, and purchase some software to go with it. No need to spend upwards of 30K.

Have to agree with this, it's not as simple as buying a high res camera. If it's a one off, why not hire a pro to do a better job rather than spending money on gear?

Then again, more toys is always better!

nowadays, it wouldn't matter what type of camera you use. be it a high end full frame DSLR, a medium or large format or even a Canon G12. if it's at least a 10 megapixel camera it will do the trick. i just printed a mural of a panoramic shot i took with an Olympus E-PL1 with Panny 20mm 1.7, the output size was 5ft. x 33ft. and the file size is around 125mb.

chances are if your dad needs it at 5'x9', they won't be looking at it at close range. if he does need to look at it very close, like within 2ft. range, you might encounter problems printing the file at high res at that size. i haven't used a large format printer yet that can buffer/rip a 1GB file. last time i attempted (by mistake) sending a file to my large format printer at 400MBish, the rip station froze, lol.

anyways, goodluck i hope i somehow shed some light on the topic.

EDIT: forgot to mention, the files are usually printed at 300dpi.

Thanks for all of the replies.

One of the reasons why my dad isn't hiring a pro photographer is because he enjoys taking the studio shots himself.

I don't think he's willing to suggest to the company to hand over $40K for the camera which is why I'm thinking a full frame DSLR might be the route to go.

Which means a D3X. I'm sure the extra megapixels will be useful and he probably wouldn't need low light capabilities in a studio. And as people have mentioned, if he runs the images through something like Genuine Fractals he'll be able to print in the size that he's looking for.

Since we are on this topic he was also asking for a recommendation for a studio lens. What do you think? 85mm 1.4 G? 24-70?

Cheers and thanks

A fashion shoot is tricky to pull off right, especially for what appears to be a large print or other catalog purposes. Are you sure your Dad is up for it, if he's not even sure what camera or lens he wants to use?

The best lens will depend on what kind of style he wants his photos to have.

My dad has done photoshoots for a catalog before. He was just using a crop body DSLR and never took images with the intention of blowing them up which is why he was asking for advice on full frame cameras and lenses that pair well with them.

If budget is an issue, don't forget there is Sony A850 + the Carl Zeiss lens