Digital BW, The Print

Phil,

Sounds really interesting and I have a bunch of questions for you.

Does A&I Digital have a website?
What size are the negs you are currently getting from them?
Do you foresee a workflow of scan to Photoshop to inkjet work print 
to transfer curve to LVT?
Since the finished product will be a silver print, would using one of 
the dye ink set for the inkjet work prints be closer to the silver 
print?

I will be eagerly awaiting updates on this as you can post them.

By the way I enjoyed your website portfolio very much. The hikers 
under the arch is wonderful. I hope to get an opportunity to see the 
original prints sometime.

Martin Wesley


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Phil Bard" <phil@p...> 
wrote:
> 
> > From what I hear, the same applies to a competing technology, 
sold by Durst 
> > as the Lamda and related line of printers. They work by RGB 
lasers and can 
> > take bw neg film. But I will let others who know more fill us in 
on that. Maybe 
> > someone from A&! can come and explain how the Durst machines 
work. If 
> > Benoit or Phil are reading this, perhaps they can help.
> > 
> 
> 
> Yes, I'm awaiting the second round of test negs from A&I Digital as 
we 
> speak, so to say.  They have 2 Lightjets, one brand new, which is 
> similar to the Lambda in that it uses lasers to expose the media.  
I'm 
> having res80 scans done from 4x5 Tmax 100, which already look 
> impressive onscreen and when printed to Piezo.  They are as sharp 
as 
> the originals and with a little unsharp masking, look even better. 
> Signal to noise is good, they sharpen well, and overall have an 
> extremely fine quality about them. Shadow detail was _remarkably_ 
> enhanced and I can recognize grain clouds that are almost identical 
to 
> those in the original neg. Of course piezos at 8x10 or 11x14 look 
> really fantastic, but I'm looking at how they play at 24x30 
> magnification, which is my favorite print size. I do print to 32x40 
and 
> want any negs produced to hold up to the image quality of the 
originals 
> at that size as well, so its a pretty rigorous standard I'm seeking 
> here. I've expected this to take numerous tests, and that was 
confirmed 
> by A&I from the outset.  They say that it takes them a little time 
to 
> key in on an individual's silver printing setup.  Mine is a Durst 
L1200 
> with color head (diffusion) printing onto Ilford MG IV fiberbase 
with 
> Ilford MG developer/selenium toner.
> 
> Have already seen one round of negs, which were a little soft 
compared 
> to both the original and the actual scan they were shot from, but 
A&I 
> seemed to think it was a case of the film perhaps on being flat in 
the 
> carrier rather than an indication of the limit to the Lightjet's 
> ability to render image information on film, and are redoing the 
> output.
> 
> Will let everyone know as soon as I see and print the next round.
> 
> Phil
> http://philbard.com