Does anyone here do color printing?

J

Jamie123

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I've never done any darkroom printing myself but I've recently become somewhat interested in it especially for 4x5. However, I'd actually be more interested in doing color prints than black and white. Does anyone here do color? Most threads seem to deal exclusively with black and white. What's the reason for that? I know scanning is very good and convenient but sometimes when I look at a very good (scanned) image of an analog C-print I can't help but think it looks slightly nicer than a straight scan from the neg.

The one reason why I will probably not pursue this is that, a) I don't have the space to set up a darkroom and b) I don't have the time it would take for me to become somewhat good at it.
 
I did it professionally for many years, it was pretty easy with the right equipment. I had a 30" Kreonite processor, basically after printing just feed it in and a dry print comes out 15 min later.
It takes years to become really good and colour grading for corrections is the hard part.
 
I asked a similar question in the large format forum a year ago, "where do you get LF color negatives contact wet printed?" From what answers I got (pretty much none) I would say no one in the world is doing wet printing of color anymore. I took a 5x7 color neg to the local botique photography specialists. They scanned the neg, then inkjet printed it. For $50. I'd say not just film is dying, but so is printing anything the old way. It's all digital printer work.
 
I did when I was in college (C-Prints mostly, but some Cibachrome)... for about 3-4 years. Photo Smith is right on.
 
Photo_Smith said:
It takes years to become really good and colour grading for corrections is the hard part.
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That''s what I fear. I would love to make C-prints from my negs but I just don't think I have the time it would take to become decent at it.

There are actually quite a few labs in my town that will do both analog and digital C-prints. The problem is that it's not exactly cheap.
 
Jamie123 said:
I've never done any darkroom printing myself but I've recently become somewhat interested in it especially for 4x5. However, I'd actually be more interested in doing color prints than black and white. Does anyone here do color? Most threads seem to deal exclusively with black and white. What's the reason for that? I know scanning is very good and convenient but sometimes when I look at a very good (scanned) image of an analog C-print I can't help but think it looks slightly nicer than a straight scan from the neg.

The one reason why I will probably not pursue this is that, a) I don't have the space to set up a darkroom and b) I don't have the time it would take for me to become somewhat good at it.
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I tried color printing in the home darkroom decades ago. It was a horrible experience ... so much work to produce a couple of so-so prints, and expensive.

It became much easier when I went to work for a photofinishing lab. Then I had at my disposal well-calibrated and maintained processing machines, a properly calibrated enlarger and color analyzer, etc. Still a lot of work, but good results.

Now I print color all the time, at home, using scanned film or digital captures, Lightroom, an Xrite display calibration tool, and a good inkjet printer. The quality is excellent, the workflow is much much easier, and it's consistent and reasonably priced per print. I'd never go back to doing this in a wet lab.

G
 
As some of the replies have indicated, color printing may be OK if you have properly calibrated professional equipment. I set up my darkroom to make color prints. Basically its like black and white printing but you also need to control the temperature of the chemicals and the printing process (I used a drum developer). This makes it quite a bit more complex. The main difficulty is getting the right color balance. These days you can't seem to buy any materials. Scanning and then getting prints made digitally is so much easier! I would not bother with color printing even if I could get the materials. Black and white printing is another matter. It's simple to do and the results are very satisfying. I really think I get the best black and white print doing it myself, something that I couldn't (always) say about my color printing.
 
I started doing color prints late last year after nearly 40 years of black and white printing and developing my own color film starting 3 years ago. I should say I'm an amateur and I shoot maybe 25-30 rolls of color a year (135 and 120) and if I can make a few dozen beautiful color prints a year I'm happy. And I enjoy darkroom and processing work.

I use Kodak Ektacolor RA chemicals (RA Developer Replenisher RT and RA Blix Replenisher, each to make 10 liters, no starter (APUG forums have a lot on these chemicals). Chemical cost is $29 and you can make about 160 8x10 prints from 10 liters (but this includes test prints). I make up all 10 liters of developer right away but liters of blix as I need it and store in 1 liter plain seltzer water bottles (PET) squeezed to exclude air.

I use small drums for 8x10 and 11x14 prints (Ilford/Cibrachrome drums, which are much better than Unicolor or Beseler drums - no leaks, drain better), and a Unicolor roller base. I adjust the temperature of each chemical using a water bath just before I add it and this is quick with only 2 oz. of developer and blix (for an 8x10 print) in a thin-walled 8 oz. spring water plastic bottle. I use an 83F temperature for the pre-wash (1 minute) and developer and blix (2 minutes each). I get no streaks on the prints so I don't need the optional stop and wash between developer and blix.

Yes, it takes a few test prints to get the color filtration right but the balance is typically good for many shots on the same roll and with experience it's easier. I use Fuji Crystal Archive paper. The prints are beautiful.
 
I have done some and still do color printing when i have negatives that are worth the effort (Not often) the best being 8x10 color contact prints. It is really hard to beat a contact print no matter what kind of scanning you have available.
I have compared RA4 prints with the best i can get from a V750 scanner and an Epson 3880 and the RA4 prints are so much more crisp and nice to look at.
 
Jan Pedersen said:
I have done some and still do color printing when i have negatives that are worth the effort (Not often) the best being 8x10 color contact prints. It is really hard to beat a contact print no matter what kind of scanning you have available.
I have compared RA4 prints with the best i can get from a V750 scanner and an Epson 3880 and the RA4 prints are so much more crisp and nice to look at.
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It's certainly very true that it's hard to beat a contact print from an 8x10 negative, whether B&W or color is mostly irrelevant. However, there are few that shoot 8x10 format, and there are many subjects that 8x10 format is patently unsuited for.

I presumed the question was targeted around 4x5, which while also beautiful in contact prints, is a bit small for most people as a finished print. It's a wonderful art form, however.

G
 
Agree, 4x5 does have one significant advantage though, it is a lot easier to find a 4x5 color enlarger whereas 8x10 enlargers with a color head is not easy to come by without a good amount of money.
 
people were selling off fujimoto cp-31 and cp-51 processors a while back. best $700 i've ever spent.

the durst printo is another affordable option, as are the various jobos. the very convenient tbe-2 tempering box is overlooked and only goes for $200-300.
 
Optical prints are pretty phenomenal when they are done right. Inkjet isn't even close. I believe, off the top of my head, Todd Hido prints from color neg and I know that Christopher Burkett still prints Ilfochrome from transparencies.

I don't print much color these days, but I prefer scans printed as a wet print through a Chromira or the like. I would love to print color in the darkroom, but without a machine such as a Fujimoto to process the prints I don't think it is worth the hassle.
 
I live in the UK and to give you an idea of how difficult it can be to buy materials, I see on Ebay you can buy Ektacolor developer for £12 and Ektacolor fix for £22. So far so good but the delivery per item (from Ohio) is £210!! If any of you folks know how to obtain materials in the UK for a reasonable price, I'd be very interested to know!
 
I started with color printing at our local art collage ca 15 years ago. We used the Tetenal 2 solution kit that worked at room temperature. I was amazed at the simplicity of the proccess and the quality of results, right fom the day one. Later the school bought a developing machine and the quality went south. Probably because the machine was old and didn't get as regular use as it needed. I had to wait and look for it's good days when it was cleaned and it's chemistry refreshed. Still better (an bigger) than anything I have done digitally.
 
jcb4718 said:
I live in the UK and to give you an idea of how difficult it can be to buy materials, I see on Ebay you can buy Ektacolor developer for £12 and Ektacolor fix for £22. So far so good but the delivery per item (from Ohio) is £210!! If any of you folks know how to obtain materials in the UK for a reasonable price, I'd be very interested to know!
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There you go:

http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/kodak-ra4-developer-kit-4x5l-295-p.asp

http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/kodak-ra4-blix-kit-4x5l-296-p.asp

These will last you for a very long time, since they're designed for replenishment. Get a small fridge and keep used chemicals (and chemicals only!) in there and just warm them up prior to use.
 
jcb4718 said:
I live in the UK and to give you an idea of how difficult it can be to buy materials, I see on Ebay you can buy Ektacolor developer for £12 and Ektacolor fix for £22. So far so good but the delivery per item (from Ohio) is £210!! If any of you folks know how to obtain materials in the UK for a reasonable price, I'd be very interested to know!
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Why not buy from the Uk? Everything you need is here:
http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/process-ra4-117-c.asp

Either Ag or Silverprint are excellent,C41, RA4 and evn Cibachrome–why make it hard?
 
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