Digital BW, The Print

Phil,

I am curious about the capability but due to the huge costs involved 
it is not something I could pursue at the moment. From reading View 
Camera I know there are people out there working with very large 
cameras. Michael A. Smith has done a lot of wonderful stuff. The 
reproductions I have seen of his photos made by contact printing from 
20x24 negatives exposed in camera are incredible!

There are many others that are working in 11x14, 8x20, 16x20, etc. 
The biggest I recall was 30x40!

Unfortunately availability of sheet film in larger sizes continues to 
shrink. Anything over 8x10 is special order with minimum orders in 
the range of $5,000 if I recall correctly.

I wish I could follow up on this workflow: make a high resolution 
scan of a good 4x5 original neg, manipulate it in Photoshop, output a 
neg to silver 20X24 B&W film using the Lightjet, contact print on a 
premium fiber paper. I suspect that it might be the Rolls-Royce 
method of silver printing with a Rolls-Royce price unfortunately.

I haven't seen the Duratrans material but I noticed it as a Lightjet 
output option at the A&I website. (Both Benoit and I have e-mailed 
them invitations to joint the group here. If you see them, pass it 
along in case they missed it.) I believe it is the color transparency 
material for large displays. I saw something like this a few years 
ago and the clear film had a grainy quality that might be a problem 
for contact printing.

Do you recall what profile you used with Piezo to print on the 
Pictorico?

Piezo summit?

Enjoy and thanks for all the info.

Martin


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Phil Bard" <phil@p...> 
wrote:
> Martin,
> 
> I'm not sure if the limit on size has to do with the capability of 
the 
> LJ or simply what is feasible for them to stock in terms of the 
film.  
> The machine is capable of making prints up to 48x96 so I wouldn't 
think 
> that it's a magnification issue.  I'm expecting to see them before 
I go 
> off to the Piezo Summit on Friday, and I'll try to remember to 
ask.  
> It's one of about 15 questions I have for them so I'll do my best 
to 
> remember. Although expensive (its all relative of course- how much 
for 
> an Epson 7000 and software??) the production of a high quality 
contact 
> neg could well be the best possible way to print silver.  Its a one-
> time charge for each neg, afterall...
> 
> Don't know about Duratrans, does it have an absorbant layer to hold 
the 
> ink?  If not you will get pooling.  I've only briefly tested the 
> Pictorico, and as I said, the blacks were a little weak. I used an 
1160 
> with PiezoBW inks. For continuous tone images perhaps it would be 
fine 
> as the edge sharpness might be less of an issue than with type. 
Also 
> maybe the quantity of ink laydown could be tweaked.  I couldn't get 
the 
> detail to stay tight and wonder if something wasn't set up right.  
I 
> did a nozzle alignment and that was right on, but the fine detail 
was 
> not up to par, in my opinion.  Perhaps I'll take another shot at 
it, 
> although I have some other priorities that are in first place.
> 
> Cheers,
> Phil
> http://philbard.com
> 
> 
> > As far as the work flow goes, I wasn't thinking that the contact 
neg 
> > had to be from any particular digital printer. In theory I would 
> > think that a laser printer such as the Lightjet would have an 
edge in 
> > sharpness. From A&I's site I gather there is a size limitation. I 
> > wonder if you supplied them with 11X14, 16X20 or large sheet film 
> > (special order from Kodak or other)if the printer could handle 
it? (I 
> > sent them an invitation to join the list their input would be 
great.)
> > Obvious the cost would be going very high at this point but it 
might 
> > be the ultimate silver print method in terms of sharpness.
> > 
> > Do you think printing a negative image on the Duratrans material 
> > would be feasible?
> > 
> > I have several heard conflicting reports over the use of the 
inkjet 
> > on the Pictorico material for contact negs. Can you tell me what 
your 
> > workflow and ink set was for your attempt at this?
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > Martin
> >