Performance

We enlarged a sample image up to 2000x2994 from 668x1000. We then adjusted it using each resize method on the programme. For the most part, the S-Spline options were indeed the best. S-Pline Max provides a much sharper image overall than any of the other options. Any other resizing methods are ones that are available on other editing or resizing programmes (such as bicubic on Photoshop or Smart size in PSP).

Saving the Image

When adjusting small pictures, a lot of information is left out. But there's only so much that PhotoZoom Pro 5 can actually do. It guesses what's there using interpolation methods to recreate missing pixels and make it bigger. However, making a picture three times bigger is a massive difference to making it twice as big. Not only does it have to guess what colour pixel to place in between each pixel, but if it's three times bigger, it has to guess what pixel to put next to a pixel that's already been guessed. It's very intricate stuff and highly intelligent programming.

In many areas, PhotoZoom Pro 5 is better than the Bicubic smoother in CS4 or PSP. In our test shot, we found that we got a better result on the eyes of our portrait from CS4 and PSP, though. Edge sharpness was certainly better in PhotoZoom Pro 5 and there weren't as many artefacts, but the images were smoother and less defined overall. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a copy of Genuine Fractals to compare for this test.

Installing the Toolbar

On a test of a medium format picture, the program really came into it's own. We managed to increase the size of the picture from 7264x5440 (39.5 megapixel) to 25000x18722 (468 megapixel) before the image quality began to suffer. That's just under 12 times bigger. It created an image 1.31Gb in size when saved as a TIFF. Once converted to JPEG, the CS4 image is 120Mb while the PhotoZoom image is 235Mb. At this point, Paint Shop Pro doesn't match up as the maximum pixel size it can cope with is 10000x7489 (74 megapixel).

Conclusion

If you're going to put PhotoZoom Pro 5 to good use and really see the benefits of the new S-Spline Max technology then use it on big pictures that you want to make bigger. Don't use it on pictures you made smaller by mistake. It will work to a degree, but you'll only end up being unhappy with the results.

The results from enlarging the medium format shot were simply stunning. It certainly shows that converting already huge images is a lot easier to do. As a photographer, there'll be a time when a customer will ask you for an image that's substantially bigger than the file can cope with. That's when a program like PhotoZoom Pro 5 is useful to have on your desktop. The main poser is whether it's any better than options already available to you through your editing suite.

When enlarging images from small file sizes to larger ones, PhotoZoom Pro 5 opts for a smoother finish while the Bicubic smoother in Photoshop will try to get some detail in the image, but is left with artefacts on the image. The same happens with PSP X4. While all three programmes have multiple enlarging options, PhotoZoom Pro 5 has by far the most options available. Of course, that should be right or you wouldn't buy it. But the amount of options is great. While it's obvious a lot of them are rubbish, we noticed one or two that gave a viable result (if not better) when enlarging from a small file.

PhotoZoom Pro 5 is an extremely easy to use program and if you're going to need to make pictures bigger, then the S-Spline technology found on PhotoZoom Pro 5 is very effective. More with large images going even larger over small images made bigger. But the only reason you'd want to make a web size picture bigger is if you resized it by accident and you don't make those mistakes, do you?

Ratings (out of 5)
Features	4
Ease-of-use	4.5
Value for money	4

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