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Donnie Whitaker

9 Years Ago

Full Resolution Preview

I have seen a lot of debate about using the FAA watermark, but what about allowing full resolution preview? Do you think it helps or hurts? My current settings allow it.

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Jessica Jenney

9 Years Ago

I disabled it long ago. I don't know whether it hurts sales. Many other POD sites don't have this feature. On the other hand if the buyer doesn't like the way the preview appears, that also may discourage sales.

 

Mary Bedy

9 Years Ago

I leave mine on, and I've removed images when it looks worse there than it did on my computer. I've also deleted pricing on larger sizes if the image is slightly off, but still good enough to print at smaller sizes.

I wonder how many buyers actually use it?

 

Jessica Jenney

9 Years Ago

I also think it's distracting when you hover over it with your mouse. It's hard NOT to use it!

 

Abbie Shores

9 Years Ago

I have only bought work that I can view large up. If I see it is good at the 100% then its fair bet it will be superb at a smaller size

 

Cynthia Decker

9 Years Ago

I wouldn't buy a print without being able to see it at 100%.

 

Photos By Thom

9 Years Ago

Gimmick. Never add unnecessary steps to confuse your buyers. The tool is difficult to use and never seems to allow the user to define the precise region they wish to.

If the print does not meet expectations, the customer simply returns it no strings attached or questions asked.

 

Jessica Jenney

9 Years Ago

Cynthia and Abbie, you are artists but I don't know that the casual buyer would care. I think they distract from the work itself! I agree with Thomas.

FAA is the only POD site I know of that has this feature.

 

Mary Bedy

9 Years Ago

I've purchased prints here (not my own) and I, too, would not buy one if the preview was turned off.

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

it shows you have nothing at all to hide. i hide my face in some images, you need to see it up close to find them. others say it hurts because the close up box, despite its purpose, actually compresses the heck out of some images then sharpens the results, so you get an image that's over sharp and has compression issues. i keep mine on.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

i think brand new customers that don't know about it, it won't matter. however the savvy people that know about the site, they may look at it up close. it can't hurt a sale. i think if a customer wants to spend a $1000 on something, they want to see it up close. i sell far more here than i do at RB - same stuff, almost the same prices, but they make the image muddy and small. and here its bright and large with a close up. i have to figure its the presentation.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Abbie Shores

9 Years Ago

It is absolutely not the only POD site to have this feature but we do not discuss others here

You would be surprised how many customers, especially the larger ones, DO look at the full res and I have even been asked why one artist did not have it turned on, and if we had stopped them and, if so, why.

 

Gregory Scott

9 Years Ago

To me the loupe is very important. The details are a very important part of the quality of an image.

Some part of the image will NOT be visible in the green box. Consider this an anti-theft feature. You cannot stitch together the parts and get the whole image.

I have some gripes about it though:
Very compressed. The quality often looks poor because of compression artifacts. This is my major gripe.
For very large images, it is not always full resolution. I do a lot of stitched panoramas, so this is where this problem tends to show up. This is a big problem, in my view, also.

But I would much rather have it than not, because you really can't judge the resolution and quality of a photo without a close-up inspection, and the loupe provides this function.

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

i just wish they didn't compress it at all, there is no need to.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Gregory Scott

9 Years Ago

I heartily agree Mike, particularly since it is watermarked and has gaps between the boxes.

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

especially on abstract pieces, or where solid colors meet contrast. the preview, and the 900px image look terrible. a lot of artifacts, it makes me wonder if its the site or the member or what. its hard to sell some pieces, when you have no control over the preview, and it looks all mashed up. same with pano's, the long skinny image doesn't work with the close up. the box should scale so people can see what they are really getting.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Photos By Thom

9 Years Ago

Bottom line is the loupe is not an accurate version of the print. It's flawed therefor should be avoided.

From my personal homepage website I have made sales by providing a 12" proof of the image of they wish to own a 30" or larger artwork. I reimburse the cost of the proof at the final sale so it's a throw in. Only have needed to do this twice, the clients are more trusting if your website is thorough.

I have never seen a great looking sample using the loupe and don't expect more than one in 100,000 shoppers to have any genuine knowledge of how to pixel peep

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

ASSUMING it worked consistently, I'd turn it back on...but there's no point. It's just not reliable.

 

Jessica Jenney

9 Years Ago

I agree, Marlene. On my other POD sites (which I won't mention here) it doesn't exist. The may have an enlarge the whole image but I haven't seen this green box anywhere else.

 

Bonfire Photography

9 Years Ago

I think the preview is not an accurate representation of a print, hard to compare a monitor with back lighting to a glossy hirez pic on quality paper. Even from the preview to my photo editor is not the same as the preview seems to overly sharpen introducing noise that does not truly exist. I may turn this off myself.

 

Jennifer White

9 Years Ago

I have mine on. If I was looking for art I would want to see it up close. I'm that way with everything. I do agree with Mike though, the box does over sharpen it and sometimes adds more noise then what my computer shows.. And I think it's actually closer than 100% images. When I compare the 100% view on FAA vs Lightroom, the Lightroom view to match FAA is usually always 2:1 or 3:1 which is more than 100% Anyways, I think it's important. I would think that true art collectors (the ones that pay big bucks for the larger images) wouldn't buy it without that.

 

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