Best digital minilab

Fuji Frontier, Agfa D2, etc. have made life easier for those looking

for prints at affordable price and good keeping properties.

But, are all these digital minilabs even in terms of quality? the most

important brands (Fuji, Konica, Agfa/Copal, Kodak/Noritsu) have

different aproaches (laser, CRT, etc.)

I think that a greater knowledge about this could be helpful when

choosing labs. Thanks in advance.

I think Frontier is the best of those, at least for my taste.

The Fuji christal archive paper works REALLY good for me regardless of the brand of film I scanned. It is usually said that Kodak films don't turn out great on Fuji papers, but I think this is pretty much relative when you are scanning film, you can make the scan look as you wish, and Frontier prints make your pictures look pretty close to your scans

 

The thing I like about this system is that it is so predictable. Predicting results can be boiled down to a simple rule of a thumb. My prints turn out with tiny bit more red, and tiny bit darker than my files, and I adjust accoarding to that, and it always turns out exactly the way I wanted it to look.

 

Also frontier crystal archive prints seem to me somewhat deeper, more alive than other prints like D-lab Prestigue.

 

But I rarely use the full frontier service (scanning and printing) because I don't like frontier scans much.

I like the idea of getting prints on Fuji Crystal Archive paper but the Aladdin kiosks that serve as a front end for making prints from digital files leave something to be desired. The quick fix choices aren't very good and the gamut and contrast are sometimes disappointing.

 

I prefer the front end of the Kodak kiosks. The quick fix choices work better and the gamut and contrast are better - reds are more accurate and there are fewer blown highlights and dead blacks. However I don't know how archival the dye (sub? thermal?) prints will be. They look really nice tho'.

 

It would be nice if Fuji would upgrade the Aladdin kiosks to allow users to input data for the camera they're using. Noise Ninja and other software developers have offered profiles based on the characteristics of particular digital cameras, so it can be done. It's no different from the film profiles used my minilabs for years.

I was talking about printing in Frontier laser machines

The Agfa d-Lab deserves an honorable mention. It has the best scanner

of the major digital minilabs, and was top-rated above the Frontier

and Noritsu QSS a few years ago by Chasseur d'Images. However you get

bigger enlargements from a Frontier because it is 300 instead of 400

dpi. Wilhelm rates Agfa Sensatis paper more durable than Kodak Endura,

but less durable than Crystal Archive. Some d-Labs run Fuji paper.

Sure, you can get your negatives printed by these systems, but I think that the most exciting feature brought by this generations of minilabs is their capability to produce wet process prints from digital files. Does this change things much?

I prefer the results from Noritsu machines which use Kodak Royal paper personally.

 

Haven't used a Agfa lab for ages.How does Agfa paper compare to Royal paper?

I find Prestige and Sensatis slightly lower contrast than Royal, with

comparable color accuracy. Wilhelm claims Sensatis outlasts Endura.

Some Agfa d-labs use Fuji or Kodak paper. I have tried Noritsu QSS

with Royal paper and found it inferior to d-lab.2 with Sensatis paper

(compared using Kodak 400UC film).

 

Manuel asks, "Does this change things much?"

 

Not yet, but maybe it will. I think the main reason people don't

print their digicam pictures is that they aren't good enough to print.

Also many people prefer sharing by e-mail (no postage and packaging).

So I doubt the minilab business will ever be what it was.

In my exeperience the Frontier/Crystal Paper and Noritsu QSS/Crystal Paper are the best.

 

We don't have Agfa minilabs here (Curitiba/Brazil) and all Kodak prints are more dark and blured than Fuji.

<anecdote> Not that I know much about it, but yesterday I was chatting with the owner of very busy lab here in Toronto. He caters mostly to the wedding and headshot shooters. He has 2 Frontiers, but is getting a Noritsu this month. Says he prefers the colour on the Frontier, but is getting the Noritsu for the bigger print size, increased speed and better dust/scratch removal. </anecdote>