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[OM] nitpicking, perhaps...

Subject: [OM] nitpicking, perhaps...
From: "Bill Pearce" <bspearce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 09:19:25 -0600
Winsor,

"digital printing was chosen because it was, for him, superior to chemical
prints. "

Don't know how much difference this makes (I think a lot, see below), but
these are chemical prints. The correct terminology would be digital vs.
optical prints. In these machines, photo paper is exposed, then processed
conventionally. Some include the processor, others just expose the paper,
and it is put in the same machine with the optical prints. Exposure is via
laser, LED, or CRT. I've got a friend that is shopping for one of these
machines, and I've examined a variety of prints from each type, from a
variety of sources, from 35 to 4x5 to digital, and the results are
remarkable.

This takes the best of both systems, by using a mature, well developed
technology, photo paper, as the output medium. As good as an inkjet print
can look (and a really good one can look beautiful), and as close to a photo
print as a dye sub print can look (when good, really good), there's nothing
like a good color print on good paper, from either Kodak or Fuji depending
on taste. I'm told, George, that a very few labs have used these machines to
write to Ilfochrome (overcoming the contrast issues), but this may just be
an urban legend. Will there be some dry, or nearly dry process, that will
supplant these prints? Probably, but not today.

The BIG THING here is prints from chromes. Both Kodak and Fuji have
announced that, within about two years, there will be no more reversal
paper. This process will be the replacement, and having seen the results,
I'm glad. Properly scanned (that's a big issue), they look a lot better.
This is the solution to the contrast problems that both R3 and Ciba have
always presented.

You wet lab people have already noticed that both Kodak and Fuji have been
changing their color papers, to adi digita printing. These changes are to
allow for the differences in color temperature and exposure times.

Bill Pearce


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