Digital BW, The Print

George,
As I mentioned in a similar query a couple of weeks ago, I have had
excellent results on a Chromira at Holland Photo(.com). They have a digital
drop box and supposedly excellent mail order for non-Austinites. Are the
prints equal to a top-quality custom wet print? No, but they can be very
close. There can be a slight color cast that to my eye is noticeable only
when compared side-by-side with a wet print. That said, I find that overall
quality of results depends mostly on the Photoshop prep skills of the
photographer and the service level of your lab (Holland's is excellent and
I'm sure making my prints better than they would be elsewhere).
Doug

> Date: Sat, 28 Dec 2002 17:08:42 -0500
> From: "Ed Mathews" <ed@...>
> Subject: RE: lambda BW - again!
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: George Hartzell [mailto:hartzell@...]
> Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2002 3:40 PM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [Digital BW] lambda BW - again!
> 
> 
> <snip> 
> Does anyone have any experience with black and white prints from a
> Lambda, a Durst [sic?], a LightJet, a Frontier, or any of the other
> "paint the image with light on real photo paper" type systems?
> <snip> 
> 
> I had a wedding not long ago where the bride ordered a lot of B&W prints
> from me.  The originals were color negatives, scanned by my lab and
> printed via their Frontier.  The lab is owned by a wedding photographer
> and they do the best job of any lab I've used.  Their color prints are
> fantastic.  The B&W prints from the Frontier were (IMO) just OK.  They
> were good enough for the bride and family, but nothing like the
> traditional optical silver prints I make on fiber.  They had an obvious
> "dye" look about them and there was no glow or beauty to them.  The
> black was acceptable, but not deep enough for me.  The gradations were
> smooth but the midtones seemed to me to be suffering a little in that
> there was not enough separation and they appeared a little "muddy".  I
> would not hesitate to order them again for most clients, but you and I
> know there are much better B&W options, whereas most laypeople really
> aren't as picky.  On a scale of 1-10 where an original Ansel Adams print
> is a 10, my silver prints on fiber are a 7 or 8, I'd give these about a
> 5.5.  But then, remember this was from an original Portra NC color
> negative (not much contrast), with no local manipulation in the printing
> process either.
> 
> Thanks,
> Ed
> http://lightandsilver.com <http://lightandsilver.com/>