Reader's Comments - Index of - Free

Color Printers
If you want to try Fujix printing before you buy, visit your local professional digital
color lab. They'll probably have a machine.
Onto Conventional Paper
A variety of companies make high-volume, high-cost machines that use RGB lasers
to print onto standard photographic paper, either Ilfochrome or RA-4 negative
printing paper. At their best, these can be as good as the Fujix printers and the perpage
cost for media is much lower. Print size can be outrageously large. These
machines usually print on rolls and can therefore make a print 50 meters long (but
only 127 cm or 50" wide).
Vendors include Gretag Lab Systems (www.fotoprint.com), Durst Lambda, and
CSI Lightjet. Whatever you choose, remember that these machines only expose
paper. Development requires a standard RA-4 or Ilfochrome processor with
traditional photo chemistry. Traditional photo chemistry implies that someone is
cleaning and maintaining the processor regularly. Also note that expended photo
chemistry constitutes a disposal problem: you can't just dump it down the sink.
For most people it is not practical to own one of these machines. You prepare your
digital files and send them to a lab. If you aren't happy with your local labs, try
ColorWorks in Portland, Maine or Precision Color (Michigan and Nevada; (702)
736-8400 ask for Pat).
Ink Jet (big and expensive)
For a painterly look, try an Iris ink-jet print onto watercolor paper. The machines
themselves cost a lot and the original inks were not archival but it is an unusual
way to make art that cannot be easily duplicated with other kinds of machines.
Send a file to ColorWorks to try out Iris (Giclee) printing at its best.
More
● Wilhelm Imaging Research conducts test of archival properties of paper and
inks
Reader's Comments
I recently saw some prints that were made from images that had been captured by a
low end digital camera. The prints were small. One set had been made with an
inexpensive ink jet printer. The other set had been made with a dye sublimation
printer.
http://www.photo.net/equipment/digital/printers/primer (3 of 36)7/3/2005 2:20:36 AM