Reader's Comments - Index of - Free

Color Printers
Today I visited Sammy's Camera in Hollywood, CA, and saw a nice Fujix printer
that does not cost 30K anymore. The model is NC-500, it is only 7K, (like I have
7K laying around... ) and it uses "thermo autochrome" printing process. From the
brochure I found out that the dies are embeded the paper, and that's it. No messy
processing, just heat and UV light to stabilize the dyies. Paper, according to the
salesman, is about $1 a sheet. Output looked very nice, it had that "photographic"
quality. BTW, there is nothing mentioned in the FUJI's flyer regarding longevity of
the prints, so I took the sample I was able to obtain, cut it up into "test strips", and
placed them in following places: one with my photos in the notebook, second under
the transparent plastic of my notebook, and third - in direct sunlight (for about half
the day) in my balcony. I will let you know what happens in about a month. As a
control, I am using Kodak's RC Polycontrast paper print. If anyone has more info
or questions on the printer I saw, let me know. I'll do my best!
Cheers, Agnius
-- Agnius Griskevicius, April 17, 1997
Today I took down the test strip I had hanging in sunlight and compared to the
other 2 strips that were not treated so harshly. These are my observations: 1) Sunlit
strip of Fuji's "auto thermochrome" paper shifted to yellow and got
"warped" (wavy). Original grays now look green, original whites looks yellowish.
2) No naked eye observable difference of Kodak Polycontrast RC print hanged in
sunlight or archived in files. Conclusion: Because Fuji uses ultraviolet part of the
spectrum in "stabilizing" colors, direct exposure to vast quantities of sunlight
(which has plenty of UV in it, even filtered by smog here in L.A.), destroys the
prints. If you want more "permanence", make silver halide prints. For color use
Cibachrome (now Ilfochrome). I am not versed in color printing, so those
recomendations are not mine. Happy printing!
Agnius Griskevicius
"I love the smell of the fixer in the morning"
-- Agnius Griskevicius, May 11, 1997
I have read the page on Colour Printers. The direct comparisons with the quality of
photographic prints is well justified, especially in the area of longevity, is well
justified, I think we should be looking upon digital printers rather as a NEW
medium, and judging the results on their own merit. In the early days of
photography the prints were compared very unfavourably with paintings, and early
attempts at photo-mechanical reproductions were poor subtitutes for the originals.
http://www.photo.net/equipment/digital/printers/primer (5 of 36)7/3/2005 2:20:36 AM