Metal Prints

[Alchemy]

so how good are metal prints..... ?

just recieved one from Harvey Norman today, a 50x75 cm metal print $199.00 cost

side by side comparison of quality of submitted digital data 1:1(right side), pic of my iphone from picture scaled to match sort of

color is good, no complaints there

resolution ? i thought it would be better, am i being too fussy?

cropped area is approx 6x8cm

[xa-coupe]

I paid a metric butt load for a print from Print2metal and can not say enough good things about it. Whilst my butt did hurt from the cost no matter how close I look it is pretty well perfect. I've never had one from HN but I guess you get what you pay for.

[multiweb]

I did one print on aluminium once and it looked exactly like your left snapshot. Disappointing. I only paid $30 though for a 300x300mm alu plate as it was a once sale. But no way I'd do it again. In comparison I did a print from Officeworks 750x295mm of the lunar eclipse linear montage on matte paper for $15 and it looks like a million dollars.

[Alchemy]

Sadly that’s pretty much summed up my feelings…. Oh well lesson learned.

Despite other brands being better, I’m going back to good old paper prints, will screw this one to the observatory wall (not good enough for the house) , at least it can get wet.

[rustigsmed]

Thanks for the heads up on this - I was considering a metal print

[Alchemy]

Actually, having just examined some larger prints on paper, I’m shocked at how poor resolution these metal prints have…. Will put up some comparisons tomorrow

[glend]

I have used Print2Metal in Melbourne a few times and they are stunning. Obviously the resolution of your image file is a determinant for the final outcome. Print2Metal accept large RAW files, and use a file exchange service to upload to them. Remember, any flaws in your image are going to be more noticable in an enlargement, careful cropping can help if you have field curvature, star bloat, coma, etc. Don't print bad files.
Two things to remember, first, and this is true with any print, you have to remember when you see an image on your computer screen, it is backlit; metal prints are usually pure white coated aluminium and this gives great base for your image, but for best results a picture or gallery light directed at your image is ideal. A brighter image field will always pop better than a dark star field; objects like Eta C, Tarantula, etc are great as images, thin veil nebulae etc not so great. That said I have a great photo of the Witches Broom, so it depends on the strength of your object data too.
Secondly, yes they can be costly (compared to paper), especially when you pick a large format size. Think carefully about what size you need, how you will hang it, lighting, etc before you order. I have used max 11x14s and I am happy with that. The border you select can affect the cost. A good option for several photos is to create a gallery style wall in your house, where A ceiling mounted light bar can have beams directed at each image.
Have fun.

[multiweb]

In this case you can see the noise left after the printing process. In my case it was scan lines horizontally. My pic was 600dpi. It should have been crystal clear. I guess there is a bit of a hype about "metal" prints now. Everybody claims to do it. I call what I've got sh!t on alu.

[Alchemy]

I’m glad you have got some high quality prints. You do get what you pay for generally, for the benefit of others could you do a similar thing and show us a close up of the results, so at least others won’t throw 100s of $ in the bin, and see just how good a metal print can be.

Just checked print 2 metal price, $215 for a 500x750mm …. Very similar price

[glend]

Clive, I doubt that any photo I published here (and reduced to the size and format (jpg) required for posting on IIS), which would be a photo of a photo hanging on my wall, which is a print of my original image; is going to be a reasonable endorsement of the work of Print2Metal.
So no, I will not do that. If you feel that I am in someway misleading you, or others, for whatever reason, just ignore my previous post. Good luck.

[glend]

And Marc, you have not seen my prints, and are in no position to make assumptions about noise or anything else related to image quality. I have described my results from the metal printing process. As I said to Clive, believe me or not, your choice. I have no reason to misrepresent what I received from Print2Metal, nor my experience using them.

[multiweb]

Chill pill mate :shrug: I wasn't talking about your experience with Print2Metal. I was just saying that my experience was similar to Clive's. Metal or paper the image is still only as good as the process used to print it. Medium doesn't matter much.

[Alchemy]

All good, not questioning your integrity. Just hoped to see a close up section so we could get an idea of quality for our own eyeballs.
Unfortunately I was not delighted with mine so will be taking a little more effort with the printing and get some smaller paper ones done first.

Appreciate your opinion though

Cheers