Prints from Slides

Last Septembet my wife & I went to Portugal & Spain. She shot a lot

of Provira and I shot the last of my K25. I was shocked to learn

that R3 paper and chemistry has been discontinued by Kodak. I had

planned to print them myself.

 

I've looked at Ilfochrome but the costs are very high for prints.

 

 

My wife wants 11x14 prints. Who is making R3 chemistry now that

Kodak has dropped theirs? I know Fuji has an R3 paper but they

don't seem to offer home kits.

 

Are didgital scan prints as good as R3 prints? How do 11x14 digital

prints compare with 11x14 R prints?

 

Thanks!

Anthony, If you want Ilfochromes then there are a couple of UK labs which do custom work for very modest prices. The one I have used (and been very pleased with) is http://www.bpdphotech.com but there are others which offer similar pricing and good quality. As a guide reckon on about $8 for a 10" x 8". Nearest they do to 14" x 11" is 16" x 12" and that will cost you around $17. When you look at the price list bear in mind that prices include VAT which you will not need to pay if the work is being exported to the US. Regarding other process options I would highly recommend that you try the output from a Fuji Frontier and/or an Agfa D-Lab. I think that you will find that both can match or beat TypeR with a good operator.

The best prints from slides I have had done were professionally scanned and printed on a Lightjet. The lightjet prints were sharper and had much better shadow detail than the custom R3 prints have had done.

Digital prints will blow away any ilfochrome, C-type, R-type print you've ever seen--if done right. IMO, except for some very specific effects desired and rare occasonal other purposes, digital is the only way to go. It captures all the information on the slide and you don't get the problems with contrast and loss of shadow and highlight detail the other means of printing produce.

 

Depending on you finances and end use and the number of prints you need will decide what means you use to obtain your scans and prints. Top end drum scans with LightJet prints are the creme de la creme. But very satisfactory prints can be obtained with a $300 home scanner and $300 home printer. But, like all things, there is a learning curve and you're not likely to get satisfactory results at home on your first few attempts if you're not familiar with using color space, photoshop tools, etc.

I have recently acquired a film scanner (Microtek Film Scan 35) at home and I have been using it to make Digital files of my slide films. Unfortunately, I have not found a satisfactory (and affordable) method of printing the pictures.

The reason being all digital prints fade with time. Home printers tend to use dye based inks which fade when exposed to ultraviolet rays or sunlight. So exposing them in a frame at home is out of the question.