Minilab roundup

The October 2003 issue of Chasseurs D'Images has an article on new minilabs.

w/o specifics they said the lowest price model was 100,000 Euros and the
most expensive over 300,000 Euros.

All of the units are now broad-media and accept various film formats,
digital files via card, CD-ROM or internet.

Cd'I prepared a series of test images that they claimed were
challenging, but not over the top, for their tests and brought them to a
trade show where the minilab makers were showing their wares. (They
don't specify which show this was at.) The undertext of the article
harped on the optics of the minilabs, suggesting w/o saying that
Noritsu, Konica and Kodak are behind the top 3 in the optical dept. The
Frontier, to a lesser degree, is slightly behind on optics compared to
the Agfa and Kis.

Tested:

negative with a -1 to +1 slope. Looking for detail, exposure and color
accuracy.

slides: 1 studio shot (same scene as the negative above) and 1 landscape
shot.

B&W: looking for "control of the dominant" ?, grey tones and black density.

Hi res digital files: (4)
-Hi res: 2000x3000. (white birds...looking for "whites" and detail in
the feathers)
-Lo res digital (1.3 Mpix)
-Hi dynamic/hi res shot
-Studio Color Checker Test target

Cd'I claim that the images they provided are "perfectly exposed".

Ratings: Top to bottom

Agfa d-lab.2
Fuji Frontier 340
Kis DKS 1500
Kodak 29 DLS
Konica R1 Super
Noritsu QSS-2901

Below I'll put up the non-5/5 score for each machine. The "comment" is
the Cd'I comment that I translated freely from French. Cd'I has always
used fairly vernacular French, freely using anglicisms and
"photo-slang". So I translated the meaning, rather than word for word.

Agfa (1200/hour)
grey restoration in B&W (4/5) and
digital files "dominant" (4/5).
All other parameters were 5/5. Comment was that "...the machine that
delivered the sharpest images and fine details."

Frontier (800/hour):
color-neg sharpness (4/5)
Slide Contrast/density (4/5), Sharpness (4/5)
B&W: Dominant (3/5), Contrast/Density 4/5
Dig: color 4/5, sharpness 4/5, greys 4/5, framing 3/5
Comment: "easiest machine for the operator, but sharpness is not quite
there and framing is less than perfect"

Kis DKS (1500/hour):
Negatives: color (4/5)
Slides (not tested, no reason provided)
B&W: dominant: 3/5
Contrast/density: 4/5
digital: color 4/5 contr/dens: 4/5, resolution impr: 4/5, grey: 3/5
Comment: "operator needed a '2nd chance' to really get it right."

Kodak 29 DLS (1300/hour)
color neg: contr/dens: 4/5, sharp: 3/5
slide: contr/dens: 4/5, sharp: 3/5
B&W: dominant: 3/5, contr/dens: 4/5
digital: color: 4/5, sharp, 3/5, res improvement 4/5, greys, 3/5,
framing 4/5
Comment: "printing unit was really disappointing"

Konica R1 Super (1000/hour)
Color negative: color 4/5, contrast/dens: 4/5, sharp 4/5
Slides: color 4/5, contr/dens 4/5, sharp 4/5
B&W: dominant: 4/5, contr/dens 4/5
digital: color 4/5, sharp 4/5, greys 4/5, framing 3/5
Comment: "All work was 100% automatic, no operator involvement.
Excellent results, considering. The 'all terrain vehicle' of minilabs."

Noritsu QSS 2901 (1480/hour)
color neg: color 3/5, contr/dens 3/5, sharp 4/5
slide: color 4/5, sharp 4/5, framing 3/5
B&W: dominante 4/5
digital: color 4/5, sharp 4/5, res impr. 4/5, greys 4/5, framing 3/5
Comment: "Seems to be based on aging technology*, and really dedicated
to 'production' than one-off printing. Good results, but penalised when
compared to the others."
[*from the french text I'm not sure if they meant the technology was
aging or the particular machine that they tested on... as this was a
trade-show sample, I would guess Cd'I meant the technology. -]

Alan.

Browne "Alan wrote:

The October 2003 issue of Chasseurs D'Images has an article on new minilabs.

Thanks for summarizing this, Alan!

Kis DKS 1500

Never heard of this brand. Have you seen them in Canada?

Agfa dLab-2 (1200/hour)
grey restoration in B&W (4/5) and
digital files "dominant" (4/5).
All other parameters were 5/5. Comment was that "...the machine that
delivered the sharpest images and fine details."

Hmm... there is one in a nearby city. I'll definitely have to try it.
If the software is anything like the Agfa MSC minilabs, it'll work well
with all kinds of film except Konica. Unlike the Frontier, which
works well mostly with Fuji films, and less well (to differing degrees)
with all other brands of film. Agfa films are a disaster on Frontiers.

Frontier (800/hour):
... and framing is less than perfect"

I'll say. That thing crops like Ghengis Khan with a riding lawnmower.

Bill Tuthill wrote:

Browne "Alan wrote:

The October 2003 issue of Chasseurs D'Images has an article on new minilabs.

Thanks for summarizing this, Alan!

I second that! Very interesting, the more that Agfa in the US
is rather underrepresented...


Kis DKS 1500

Never heard of this brand. Have you seen them in Canada?

I just found their specs on the web:

http://www.kis-photome.com/english/pro/DKS1500.htm

and the contact:

Head Office
Kis / Photo-Me Group
2110, avenue du Général de Gaulle
38 130 Echirolles
FRANCE
Tel. : +33 (0) 4.76.33.30.00
Fax : +33 (0) 4.76.33.95.00


Agfa dLab-2 (1200/hour)
grey restoration in B&W (4/5) and
digital files "dominant" (4/5).
All other parameters were 5/5. Comment was that "...the machine that
delivered the sharpest images and fine details."

Hmm... there is one in a nearby city. I'll definitely have to try it.
If the software is anything like the Agfa MSC minilabs, it'll work well
with all kinds of film except Konica. Unlike the Frontier, which
works well mostly with Fuji films, and less well (to differing degrees)
with all other brands of film. Agfa films are a disaster on Frontiers.

Negative or slides?

Thomas.


Frontier (800/hour):
... and framing is less than perfect"

I'll say. That thing crops like Ghengis Khan with a riding lawnmower.

"Bill Tuthill" wrote in message
...
Browne "Alan wrote:

The October 2003 issue of Chasseurs D'Images has an article on new
minilabs.

Thanks for summarizing this, Alan!

Kis DKS 1500

Never heard of this brand. Have you seen them in Canada?


Actually, Qualex (Kodak) was leasing this unit as a Kodak System 88 to drug
stores in Canada, but dropped it as it's not built very well... simple to
use though...

I'm a big fan of fuji frontier.

In rec.photo.equipment.35mm ThomasH wrote:

... Agfa films are a disaster on Frontiers.

Negative or slides?

Negative film. The original Vista films in all speeds look bad,
with muddy greens and orangy reds. Haven't tried new Optima in
the Frontier, but on datasheets it looks similar to Vista.

Slides should be OK, although getting good prints from slides
requires a good Frontier operator, I've heard.

Cropping remains probably the Frontier's worst problem.
I have several Nutcracker ballet pictures where the prints
cut off legs and arms, despite correctly framed negatives.
Is overcropping a problem when submitting digicam images?

Bill Tuthill wrote:

Browne "Alan wrote:

The October 2003 issue of Chasseurs D'Images has an article on new minilabs.


Thanks for summarizing this, Alan!


Kis DKS 1500


Never heard of this brand. Have you seen them in Canada?

I've seen Kodak, Agfa, Fuji and Noritsu. Never heard of Kis or seen a
Konica...although one shop I used to use prob has a Konica.



Agfa dLab-2 (1200/hour)
grey restoration in B&W (4/5) and
digital files "dominant" (4/5).
All other parameters were 5/5. Comment was that "...the machine that
delivered the sharpest images and fine details."


Hmm... there is one in a nearby city. I'll definitely have to try it.
If the software is anything like the Agfa MSC minilabs, it'll work well
with all kinds of film except Konica. Unlike the Frontier, which
works well mostly with Fuji films, and less well (to differing degrees)
with all other brands of film. Agfa films are a disaster on Frontiers.

The report made no mention of film compatibility across brands. There
is one very vague statement regarding past machines and some customers
unhappiness with results from negatives.
Alan.

I'm not sure but isn't the QSS-2901 an older model machine? Wasn't it one
of the first 3 colour laser printers out?

"Alan Browne" "Alan wrote in message
...

The October 2003 issue of Chasseurs D'Images has an article on new
minilabs.

w/o specifics they said the lowest price model was 100,000 Euros and the
most expensive over 300,000 Euros.

All of the units are now broad-media and accept various film formats,
digital files via card, CD-ROM or internet.

Cd'I prepared a series of test images that they claimed were
challenging, but not over the top, for their tests and brought them to a
trade show where the minilab makers were showing their wares. (They
don't specify which show this was at.) The undertext of the article
harped on the optics of the minilabs, suggesting w/o saying that
Noritsu, Konica and Kodak are behind the top 3 in the optical dept. The
Frontier, to a lesser degree, is slightly behind on optics compared to
the Agfa and Kis.

Tested:

negative with a -1 to +1 slope. Looking for detail, exposure and color
accuracy.

slides: 1 studio shot (same scene as the negative above) and 1 landscape
shot.

B&W: looking for "control of the dominant" ?, grey tones and black
density.

Hi res digital files: (4)
-Hi res: 2000x3000. (white birds...looking for "whites" and detail in
the feathers)
-Lo res digital (1.3 Mpix)
-Hi dynamic/hi res shot
-Studio Color Checker Test target

Cd'I claim that the images they provided are "perfectly exposed".

Ratings: Top to bottom

Agfa d-lab.2
Fuji Frontier 340
Kis DKS 1500
Kodak 29 DLS
Konica R1 Super
Noritsu QSS-2901

Below I'll put up the non-5/5 score for each machine. The "comment" is
the Cd'I comment that I translated freely from French. Cd'I has always
used fairly vernacular French, freely using anglicisms and
"photo-slang". So I translated the meaning, rather than word for word.

Agfa (1200/hour)
grey restoration in B&W (4/5) and
digital files "dominant" (4/5).
All other parameters were 5/5. Comment was that "...the machine that
delivered the sharpest images and fine details."

Frontier (800/hour):
color-neg sharpness (4/5)
Slide Contrast/density (4/5), Sharpness (4/5)
B&W: Dominant (3/5), Contrast/Density 4/5
Dig: color 4/5, sharpness 4/5, greys 4/5, framing 3/5
Comment: "easiest machine for the operator, but sharpness is not quite
there and framing is less than perfect"

Kis DKS (1500/hour):
Negatives: color (4/5)
Slides (not tested, no reason provided)
B&W: dominant: 3/5
Contrast/density: 4/5
digital: color 4/5 contr/dens: 4/5, resolution impr: 4/5, grey: 3/5
Comment: "operator needed a '2nd chance' to really get it right."

Kodak 29 DLS (1300/hour)
color neg: contr/dens: 4/5, sharp: 3/5
slide: contr/dens: 4/5, sharp: 3/5
B&W: dominant: 3/5, contr/dens: 4/5
digital: color: 4/5, sharp, 3/5, res improvement 4/5, greys, 3/5,
framing 4/5
Comment: "printing unit was really disappointing"

Konica R1 Super (1000/hour)
Color negative: color 4/5, contrast/dens: 4/5, sharp 4/5
Slides: color 4/5, contr/dens 4/5, sharp 4/5
B&W: dominant: 4/5, contr/dens 4/5
digital: color 4/5, sharp 4/5, greys 4/5, framing 3/5
Comment: "All work was 100% automatic, no operator involvement.
Excellent results, considering. The 'all terrain vehicle' of minilabs."

Noritsu QSS 2901 (1480/hour)
color neg: color 3/5, contr/dens 3/5, sharp 4/5
slide: color 4/5, sharp 4/5, framing 3/5
B&W: dominante 4/5
digital: color 4/5, sharp 4/5, res impr. 4/5, greys 4/5, framing 3/5
Comment: "Seems to be based on aging technology*, and really dedicated
to 'production' than one-off printing. Good results, but penalised when
compared to the others."
[*from the french text I'm not sure if they meant the technology was
aging or the particular machine that they tested on... as this was a
trade-show sample, I would guess Cd'I meant the technology. -]

Alan.

"McLeod" wrote in message
.. .
I'm not sure but isn't the QSS-2901 an older model machine? Wasn't it one
of the first 3 colour laser printers out?

Yeah, it was Noritsu's first laser printer, but the print engine is the same
as the newer 3001, 3101, 31-Pro and R2R.
Similarly they tested the Agfa dlab2, but not the dlab3 or Durst Zeta which
share the dlab2 print engine.
Fuji was actually the first to release a laser printer, back before Noritsu
released the 2701 (MLVA technology)

It very well may be. Maybe I misunderstood the article to mean 'new'
rather than the existing top of the line... in any case, all of the
units tested, per the article are up to date in terms of media
interfaces (CD-ROM, PCMCIA, mem-sticks, internet services). It could be
that the -2901 is the same basic machine, but its computer has been
upgraded...

McLeod wrote:

I'm not sure but isn't the QSS-2901 an older model machine? Wasn't it one
of the first 3 colour laser printers out?

"Alan Browne" "Alan wrote in message
...

The October 2003 issue of Chasseurs D'Images has an article on new

minilabs.

w/o specifics they said the lowest price model was 100,000 Euros and the
most expensive over 300,000 Euros.

All of the units are now broad-media and accept various film formats,
digital files via card, CD-ROM or internet.

Cd'I prepared a series of test images that they claimed were
challenging, but not over the top, for their tests and brought them to a
trade show where the minilab makers were showing their wares. (They
don't specify which show this was at.) The undertext of the article
harped on the optics of the minilabs, suggesting w/o saying that
Noritsu, Konica and Kodak are behind the top 3 in the optical dept. The
Frontier, to a lesser degree, is slightly behind on optics compared to
the Agfa and Kis.

Tested:

negative with a -1 to +1 slope. Looking for detail, exposure and color
accuracy.

slides: 1 studio shot (same scene as the negative above) and 1 landscape
shot.

B&W: looking for "control of the dominant" ?, grey tones and black

density.

Hi res digital files: (4)
-Hi res: 2000x3000. (white birds...looking for "whites" and detail in
the feathers)
-Lo res digital (1.3 Mpix)
-Hi dynamic/hi res shot
-Studio Color Checker Test target

Cd'I claim that the images they provided are "perfectly exposed".

Ratings: Top to bottom

Agfa d-lab.2
Fuji Frontier 340
Kis DKS 1500
Kodak 29 DLS
Konica R1 Super
Noritsu QSS-2901

Below I'll put up the non-5/5 score for each machine. The "comment" is
the Cd'I comment that I translated freely from French. Cd'I has always
used fairly vernacular French, freely using anglicisms and
"photo-slang". So I translated the meaning, rather than word for word.

Agfa (1200/hour)
grey restoration in B&W (4/5) and
digital files "dominant" (4/5).
All other parameters were 5/5. Comment was that "...the machine that
delivered the sharpest images and fine details."

Frontier (800/hour):
color-neg sharpness (4/5)
Slide Contrast/density (4/5), Sharpness (4/5)
B&W: Dominant (3/5), Contrast/Density 4/5
Dig: color 4/5, sharpness 4/5, greys 4/5, framing 3/5
Comment: "easiest machine for the operator, but sharpness is not quite
there and framing is less than perfect"

Kis DKS (1500/hour):
Negatives: color (4/5)
Slides (not tested, no reason provided)
B&W: dominant: 3/5
Contrast/density: 4/5
digital: color 4/5 contr/dens: 4/5, resolution impr: 4/5, grey: 3/5
Comment: "operator needed a '2nd chance' to really get it right."

Kodak 29 DLS (1300/hour)
color neg: contr/dens: 4/5, sharp: 3/5
slide: contr/dens: 4/5, sharp: 3/5
B&W: dominant: 3/5, contr/dens: 4/5
digital: color: 4/5, sharp, 3/5, res improvement 4/5, greys, 3/5,
framing 4/5
Comment: "printing unit was really disappointing"

Konica R1 Super (1000/hour)
Color negative: color 4/5, contrast/dens: 4/5, sharp 4/5
Slides: color 4/5, contr/dens 4/5, sharp 4/5
B&W: dominant: 4/5, contr/dens 4/5
digital: color 4/5, sharp 4/5, greys 4/5, framing 3/5
Comment: "All work was 100% automatic, no operator involvement.
Excellent results, considering. The 'all terrain vehicle' of minilabs."

Noritsu QSS 2901 (1480/hour)
color neg: color 3/5, contr/dens 3/5, sharp 4/5
slide: color 4/5, sharp 4/5, framing 3/5
B&W: dominante 4/5
digital: color 4/5, sharp 4/5, res impr. 4/5, greys 4/5, framing 3/5
Comment: "Seems to be based on aging technology*, and really dedicated
to 'production' than one-off printing. Good results, but penalised when
compared to the others."
[*from the french text I'm not sure if they meant the technology was
aging or the particular machine that they tested on... as this was a
trade-show sample, I would guess Cd'I meant the technology. -]

Alan.