Digital BW, The Print

jerry78008 wrote:

> I know full well that this posting flies in the teeth of the basis of
> this B&W list, in that this list is about the fine aspects of self
> printing. Whereas this posting is more in the realm of those who print
> in color also and do so less frequently than a B & W fine artist
> printer. However this group is by far the most intelligent and
> communicative. And we have been limited and judicious in our postings
> and with all this camera/lens talk going on now, at least this is a
> posting about printing...
>
>
> Over the years it was the common norm to bring one's film to a
> developer / printer. Black and White was more do-able in the garage or
> basement, but color was challenging to the point of being practical
> and cost effective to just drop off and pick up.
> Then digital scanning came into technical workability at home. And few
> service bureaus or print locations had other than a high end esoteric
> Iris type printer. Thus the cottage industry of at home color printing
> on Epson printers etc.
> The 3rd party inks and papers industry flourished.
> Now it may be that the printing services have come full circle and are
> offering printing of digital files on a full gamut of printing devices
> and the cost per print has come way down. Even Costco lets you
> electronically send in your finished files and one only has to pick
> them up.
> Likewise with service bureaus. Only the pick up.
> The question / point is :
> Has the cost purchasing and the trouble of maintaining ones own inkjet
> printer, become actually less cost effective and more bother than
> using dedicated print services (who have now fully adapted to digital
> files) ?
>
> One can now do all the digital dark rooming that one needs to in
> Photoshop and present a finished file that should look quite as it
> would on one's screen or own printer output. In the older days of
> film, one was left at the mercy of the judgment dark rooming of the
> developer / printer.
>
> I have not done all the math, but particularly in major cities, where
> the printers keep stocks of various art papers - (and have such
> continuous use of their own printers that clogged nozzles is never a
> grave concern) \ufffd
>
> Might it be sensible to give up the hassles and lifespan of ink jet
> printers and return to the former model of having dedicated
> professionals do the printing and just run down and pick up the prints
> the next day or the same day ?
>
> My spouse and I co-wrote this and will present it to groups of interest.
> We do very much welcome responses.
>
> Jerry
>
With all due respect, I think your premise is wrong. This isn't about 
money - it's about control. No one can print my work like I can. No one 
cares about my work like I do. When I print it myself, I get what I 
want, and I get it when I want it.

Besides, if you know what you are doing, and everyone learns eventually, 
the care and feeding of inkjet printers isn't that much of a hassle.
-- 
Bruce Watson