Sparrow
Veteran
Shhhh you're giving away secrets there, let'em think what they like, the truth can be inconvenient
palec
Well-known
This is going to be past in near future, too.
The new Frontier is dry minilab based on inkjet.
One of the former Kodak minilabs here in Bratislava got rid of RA-4 machine and replaced with Noritsu dry lab. I have to check the results, yet, but they claim higher resolution and wider gamut. I'm curious.
Sparrow
Veteran
"confucius he say" look for the Agfa D-lab+2 logo, Glasshopper
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Wow, I didn't know Fuji had begun making the inkjet based systems. I've heard of the Noritsu, but have not seen on installed where I could try it.
Dogman
Veteran
First you learn to tolerate and then you might learn to love.
I was excited about inkjet printing 10 years ago but became disillusioned with it, especially in B&W. I went back to the darkroom, upgraded my enlarger, bought Rodenstock and Schneider enlarging lenses and a new archival washer and a bigassed 4-blade easel. My B&W looked pretty good.
But I guess I got old and lazy because I bought a digital camera to play with. At first, I only used digital for color. It looked pretty good. I tried some B&W and it looked okay. I could tolerate it, given that my tired old arthritic back could take short periods at the computer much better than those long printing sessions in the darkroom. After a while I discovered I liked the results I was getting in B&W. I started scanning my negatives and found inkjet prints looked okay from negatives as well. I started liking it. I haven't used my darkroom in about a year--other than for processing an occasional roll of film.
Film is expensive but I have enough frozen to last me for about a decade at the rate I use it now. I can justify continuing to shoot film. However, paper processing is another story. Those chemicals are also expensive and, unless you use them fairly soon after purchase, they go bad. Printing paper has gotten very expensive at the same time it has gotten lower in quality. And the time it takes is a major factor when I consider how life getting shorter daily. Maintaining a darkroom only for occasional printing is not cost, time or space effective anymore. I really don't like to think about it but all this fine equipment will probably soon to up in the attic with the other stuff I no longer use but can't bear to give up.
I was excited about inkjet printing 10 years ago but became disillusioned with it, especially in B&W. I went back to the darkroom, upgraded my enlarger, bought Rodenstock and Schneider enlarging lenses and a new archival washer and a bigassed 4-blade easel. My B&W looked pretty good.
But I guess I got old and lazy because I bought a digital camera to play with. At first, I only used digital for color. It looked pretty good. I tried some B&W and it looked okay. I could tolerate it, given that my tired old arthritic back could take short periods at the computer much better than those long printing sessions in the darkroom. After a while I discovered I liked the results I was getting in B&W. I started scanning my negatives and found inkjet prints looked okay from negatives as well. I started liking it. I haven't used my darkroom in about a year--other than for processing an occasional roll of film.
Film is expensive but I have enough frozen to last me for about a decade at the rate I use it now. I can justify continuing to shoot film. However, paper processing is another story. Those chemicals are also expensive and, unless you use them fairly soon after purchase, they go bad. Printing paper has gotten very expensive at the same time it has gotten lower in quality. And the time it takes is a major factor when I consider how life getting shorter daily. Maintaining a darkroom only for occasional printing is not cost, time or space effective anymore. I really don't like to think about it but all this fine equipment will probably soon to up in the attic with the other stuff I no longer use but can't bear to give up.
jwcat
Well-known
Just to add another wrinkle, I watched a well known Platinum/Digital Negative teacher make a 11x14 digital negative and print to Ilford FB air dried for someone else. The results were outstanding. The picture was a portrait of Miss Thailand. In this case it was DSLR file, but a scanned film negative would work just as well. The negative was contact printed using light from an enlarger and contrast filters as normal. Interesting twist.
literiter
Well-known
We have a little "Mom and Pop" picture framing venture. We are considered to be pretty good by quite a few. We take exceptional care with work that we receive....I mean white cotton gloves etc.
Some digital prints scare the hell out of me. The surfaces can be so fragile that it cannot be touched, even with cotton gloves or the paper used to separate the prints, and is usually received by us damaged in some way.
I should point out that I think this stuff can be incredibly beautiful, and I think a good digital print is certainly worth the effort but a good silver gelatin print, done well, is not only as beautiful but a lot easier to work with.
My 2 cents.
Some digital prints scare the hell out of me. The surfaces can be so fragile that it cannot be touched, even with cotton gloves or the paper used to separate the prints, and is usually received by us damaged in some way.
I should point out that I think this stuff can be incredibly beautiful, and I think a good digital print is certainly worth the effort but a good silver gelatin print, done well, is not only as beautiful but a lot easier to work with.
My 2 cents.
robklurfield
eclipse
Ink jet printing is a great alternative for klutzes like me who never got comfortable in the dark dipping my fingers in the fixer or stop bath. I will forever feel a little embarrassed at my scant wet skills, but my ink jet results are nicely predictable. While a have found memories of time spent under a safe light, as I get older and time seems to move faster, there being less of it, I prefer to spend my photo hours shooting rather than printing. I do miss the magic, however, of an image resolving from latency to visibility before my, almost always surprised and delighted, eyes.