Digital BW, The Print

I agree.  I get better results using the Fred Miranda Stair Interpolation PS action (which just automates doing a series of small interpolations in a row) than I do with SmartScale.

Simon
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Anthony Atkielski 
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 11:38 AM
  Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Extensis SmartScale


  Joe writes:

  > So far, my own conclusion is that I cannot seem
  > much if any difference between blowing up
  > 1600 per cent with photoshop and with extensis.

  Upsampling programs are mostly hype.  At least Photoshop doesn't claim to do
  the impossible, whereas most other programs that specialize in upsampling
  do.

  You can't add detail that isn't in the original photo.  "Intelligent"
  upsampling programs like Genuine Fractals or SmartScale _invent_ details
  based on certain assumptions they make about the original photo.  The more
  accurately these assumptions match the characteristics of the original
  scene, the more convincing the upsampling will be (although it still won't
  match the original scene).  No set of assumptions is valid for all photos,
  however, so for every photo that looks better when upsampled using these
  programs, there will be another photo that looks worse.  And since most
  photos will not match the program assumptions in most cases, most of the
  time you won't see much difference at all.

  The ONLY way to get more detail in a large image is to shoot a large image
  to begin with.  Nothing can substitute for real, original pixels.  If you
  want a wall-sized enlargement, you'll need to shoot a zillion pixels right
  from the beginning.  You won't be able to shoot with a 2-megapixel camera
  and then produce a ten-by-ten-foot enlargement therefrom without blurring,
  no matter what magic program you use.

  I can't believe that anyone is charging prices like $200 for such simple and
  useless tools.  I guess as long as photographers are naïve enough about
  digital photography to think that they can do the impossible (by creating
  detail where none originally existed), there will be a market for such
  trinkets.  When and if photographers learn as much about digital
  technologies as they already know about traditional film, tools like this
  are all going to end up in the wastebasket.



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