Digital BW, The Print

Since i have received a few emails off list requesting my prior post 
on B/W digital workflow, I allowed myself to post it again:

Subject:  Re: [Digital BW] Anyone built/seen a BW lightjet?


Sorry to be so late to contribute to this thread.For months I have 
tested two labs in LA to try andprint the B&W on Lightjet and 
Lambda.Here at the studio, we need fairly large prints 24x30to 30x40 
which are very cumbersome to print on fiberbase paper. We tested two 
labs in LA for months : one equipped with a Lambda printer with Kodak 
paper and one with a Lightjet printer with Fuji Crystal.At this point 
I could not tell you if it is the quality of the operator or the 
printer or the paper but the combination Lightjet and Fuji Crystal 
done byA&I was by far better. The Lambda prints were veryflat and I 
like deep blacks as you can see on mywebsite.We now routinely use the 
Lightjet at A&I and we have worked out a good workflow which is as 
following: we send the digital file with an Epson print to show the 
lab where we want the highlights and A&I sends back to us a 14x18 
test print from our digital file and we work on the tone of that test 
print, just like with we would with color print, that is put it under 
the Just ceiling lightbox and use our set of Kodak viewing filters. 
We then give them the correction (e.g. +05Yellow) and they interpret 
it to adjust the file accordingly for the final print.When the final 
print comes back to us, we mount it on archival board, put a very 
fine texture to it with special plates to break up the RC smooth 
look. We than lacquer the print with a light coat of 
SureGuardlacquer. And frankly it looks beautiful; it took us months 
of testing back and forth with A&I, who has been quite patient with 
us and very helpful along that process.The other beauty of this is 
that we can retouch the faces as much as the clients want in 
Photoshop which is impossible to do on a conventional print. 

Benoit
http://studiocharis.com