question: negative -to- digital transition

+
Several decades ago, I operated a small black and white darkroom,
printing 5x7x and 8x10s from 35mm negatives.
In recent years I have had several digital printers, which
produced
prints via inkjet... and so here is my question - when I get a print
from
the online services, they print on photographic paper, and their ads
specify that they use Fuji paper and chemicals... so, it's an "old
style"
photographic print... but... how is a print, with paper and chemicals,
produced from a digital image ?
Here, I'm really just asking - how is the image "projected" onto
the
paper, like we used to do with the enlarger and lens ?

Thanks

Some printers use three (red, green and blue) lasers (or lasers with a
following frequency multiplier) that are modulated while they scan over the
paper line by line (usually at 300 dpi). Others use large LCD - panels and a
projection lens.

"stuseven" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
oups.com...
+
Several decades ago, I operated a small black and white darkroom,
printing 5x7x and 8x10s from 35mm negatives.
In recent years I have had several digital printers, which
produced
prints via inkjet... and so here is my question - when I get a print
from
the online services, they print on photographic paper, and their ads
specify that they use Fuji paper and chemicals... so, it's an "old
style"
photographic print... but... how is a print, with paper and chemicals,
produced from a digital image ?
Here, I'm really just asking - how is the image "projected" onto
the
paper, like we used to do with the enlarger and lens ?

Thanks
.

"stuseven" wrote in message
oups.com...
+
Several decades ago, I operated a small black and white darkroom,
printing 5x7x and 8x10s from 35mm negatives.
In recent years I have had several digital printers, which
produced
prints via inkjet... and so here is my question - when I get a print
from
the online services, they print on photographic paper, and their ads
specify that they use Fuji paper and chemicals... so, it's an "old
style"
photographic print... but... how is a print, with paper and chemicals,
produced from a digital image ?
Here, I'm really just asking - how is the image "projected" onto
the
paper, like we used to do with the enlarger and lens ?

http://www.odyssey-sales.com/product...e.asp?range=71

"stuseven" wrote in message
oups.com...
....
Here, I'm really just asking - how is the image "projected" onto
the
paper, like we used to do with the enlarger and lens ?

Most labs are based on the Fuji Frontier, which uses a color laser system to
expose the print before conventional developing.

The economics of printing at home are interesting right now, and I question
whether it's worth having a printer at home any more. A modern pigment
based inkjet image is very comparable in quality, and will last longer than
a conventional photo print. Against that, there is the cost of ink and
paper, and the up front cost of the printer itself would pay for a very
large number of prints at the local drug store, or an online printing
service.
--
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com/forum/

Mike Russell wrote:
"stuseven" wrote in message
oups.com...
...
Here, I'm really just asking - how is the image "projected" onto
the
paper, like we used to do with the enlarger and lens ?

Most labs are based on the Fuji Frontier, which uses a color laser system to
expose the print before conventional developing.

The economics of printing at home are interesting right now, and I question
whether it's worth having a printer at home any more. A modern pigment
based inkjet image is very comparable in quality, and will last longer than
a conventional photo print. Against that, there is the cost of ink and
paper, and the up front cost of the printer itself would pay for a very
large number of prints at the local drug store, or an online printing
service.

Economics aside, the thing that is most important is convenience.

Pretty hard to beat the ability to produce a result in seconds, no
traveling, no mail or courier service involved. I will continue to do my
own printing regardless of any cost savings offered by other, more
remote means.

In the old days I set up my own lab, not to save money, but for the same
reason - convenience. Nothing has changed.

Regards

Salty

On Sat, 06 Jan 2007 15:45:20 -0800, Mike Russell wrote:

"stuseven" wrote in message
oups.com...
...
Here, I'm really just asking - how is the image "projected" onto
the
paper, like we used to do with the enlarger and lens ?

Most labs are based on the Fuji Frontier, which uses a color laser system to
expose the print before conventional developing.

The economics of printing at home are interesting right now, and I question
whether it's worth having a printer at home any more. A modern pigment
based inkjet image is very comparable in quality, and will last longer than
a conventional photo print. Against that, there is the cost of ink and
paper, and the up front cost of the printer itself would pay for a very
large number of prints at the local drug store, or an online printing
service.

If you didn't have a printer at home you would not be able to print things
like your bank statement, catalogue page et. al. For me a printer is a
must.

--
Neil
Reverse 'ra' and delete 'l'.

stuseven wrote:
+
Several decades ago, I operated a small black and white darkroom,
printing 5x7x and 8x10s from 35mm negatives.
In recent years I have had several digital printers, which
produced
prints via inkjet... and so here is my question - when I get a print
from
the online services, they print on photographic paper, and their ads
specify that they use Fuji paper and chemicals... so, it's an "old
style"
photographic print... but... how is a print, with paper and chemicals,
produced from a digital image ?
Here, I'm really just asking - how is the image "projected" onto
the
paper, like we used to do with the enlarger and lens ?

Thanks
.

One of the best quality image printers is called a "screen printer" or
CRT printer. It is a CRT "monitor", a high quality lens, a shutter, and
a camera, packaged permanently together.

The digital image is displayed on the monitor, the shutter is opened,
exposing the film. Some use direct positive film, with others you get
a neg which must then be processed normally to make a positive print.

You can shoot a high res monitor with a 35 mm camera, but even the best
consumer monitors today are far lower resolution than even relatively
cheap cameras are capable of. But the professional "monitors" used in
such screen printers are something else!

And lo, Cgiorgio emerged from the ether
and spake thus:
Some printers use three (red, green and blue) lasers (or lasers with a
following frequency multiplier) that are modulated while they scan over the
paper line by line (usually at 300 dpi). Others use large LCD - panels and a
projection lens.

"stuseven" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
oups.com...
+
Several decades ago, I operated a small black and white darkroom,
printing 5x7x and 8x10s from 35mm negatives.
In recent years I have had several digital printers, which
produced
prints via inkjet... and so here is my question - when I get a print
from
the online services, they print on photographic paper, and their ads
specify that they use Fuji paper and chemicals... so, it's an "old
style"
photographic print... but... how is a print, with paper and chemicals,
produced from a digital image ?
Here, I'm really just asking - how is the image "projected" onto
the
paper, like we used to do with the enlarger and lens ?

Thanks

As a few others here have noted, typically what you describe is
achieved using red, green, and blue colored lasers to expose the
photographic paper. Although it is slang, this technology has been
called "lightjet," and is the *primary* method for producing digital
prints on photographic paper.

Aside from the significant gain in longevity achieved by the
traditional development process (as compared to inkjet), so-called
lightjet prints also seem to be able to achieve a continuous tone
appearance, masking many of the artifacts of digital images that are
visible (though subtle) on-screen. Among those artifacts are minor
banding and/or posterization.

I'm only speaking from my own experience here, I'm not a lightjet
professional.

--
Aaron
http://www.fisheyegallery.com
http://www.singleservingphoto.com

In article , Aaron
wrote:

And lo, Cgiorgio emerged from the ether
and spake thus:
Some printers use three (red, green and blue) lasers (or lasers with a
following frequency multiplier) that are modulated while they scan over the
paper line by line (usually at 300 dpi). Others use large LCD - panels and
a
projection lens.

"stuseven" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
oups.com...
+
Several decades ago, I operated a small black and white darkroom,
printing 5x7x and 8x10s from 35mm negatives.
In recent years I have had several digital printers, which
produced
prints via inkjet... and so here is my question - when I get a print
from
the online services, they print on photographic paper, and their ads
specify that they use Fuji paper and chemicals... so, it's an "old
style"
photographic print... but... how is a print, with paper and chemicals,
produced from a digital image ?
Here, I'm really just asking - how is the image "projected" onto
the
paper, like we used to do with the enlarger and lens ?

Thanks

As a few others here have noted, typically what you describe is
achieved using red, green, and blue colored lasers to expose the
photographic paper. Although it is slang, this technology has been
called "lightjet," and is the *primary* method for producing digital
prints on photographic paper.

Aside from the significant gain in longevity achieved by the
traditional development process (as compared to inkjet),

I think you have that bass-ackwards. Current inkjet technology, using
archival papers and archival inks designed for use together, are being
rated at anywhere from 90-230 years fade resistance. Compare that to
standard photographic paper process (even using lasers) fade
resistance, and you'll see that inkjets have much greater longevity.

so-called
lightjet prints also seem to be able to achieve a continuous tone
appearance, masking many of the artifacts of digital images that are
visible (though subtle) on-screen. Among those artifacts are minor
banding and/or posterization.

I'm only speaking from my own experience here, I'm not a lightjet
professional.

--
You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a
reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating
the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for
independence.
-- Charles A. Beard