Digital -> Large negative for Contact Printing

[keith_baker1]

Hello,

I have been reading about the hybrid of digital and traditional printing. The idea, as I understand it, is that the negative is drum scanned, all cropping, dodging, burning, etc is carried out in the digital domain. The digital file is then sent ***somewhere*** and they make you a large negative the size of the desired print. In turn, you contact print the large negative in you darkroom and handle the rest as has been done for years.

My question: where would you send the digital file for this sort of thing? What is a service bureau?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[joe_lipka2]

Dan Burkholder "wrote the book" on this process. The term service

bureau is sort of dated, and that type of business is pretty hard to

find right now. Sit down with your Yellow Pages and start looking for

Imagesetters, typesetting, graphic design and printers. All of these

types of businesses have the capability of converting your digital

files into a printable large size negative.

 

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Good luck with this wonderful way to work.

[david_f._stein]

Ask Brooks Jensen at LensWork Quarterly; also see their web site re:

Special Editions. You have a great idea-which LensWork is doing,

unfortunately no one that I know is offering this service-it takes a

powerful imagesetter-much more than the 2450s still hanging around but

going fast. Basiclaly, you can output to the 2450s but you must not

try for too high a dpi or # of tones-it can work based on that it

really doesn't take 256 distinct shades of grey to create a pleasing,

moving, quality image. Dan's book explains this, although creating

negatives on the desktop inkjet printer is really something different.

Also, there would be the potential to laser scan and expose fiber base

paper, the process conventionally-instead, this is only being done

with the much less appealing color print papers-a la Fuji Fro

[richard_ilomaki2]

Keith:

 

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Dan Burkholder can be reashed at: www.danburkholder.com where he

offers the latest updates on info published in his book. You can also

order the book. Type "balded iris" into Google and get a whole load

of hits on the subject. Bladed Iris is the name of his publishing

outfit.

 

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The book is The Bible on the subject and includes names and addresses

of "service Bureaus" who can output the negs.

 

With the advent of the latest generation of inkjet printers, very

good negs can be produced at home using tweaks to Photshop and Epson

printers-all detailed in the book and on the website.

 

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Full-sized negs are great if only that they eliminate the fabled

Callier effect, that some ( Ansel Adams & Fred Picker among others)

claim result is sub-optimal prints from an enlarged neg.

 

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Contact prints and prints from cold light enlarger heads are said to

eliminate that. I have found it to be true and can not get over the

magic of contact prints from in-camera 4x5 and 8x10 negs. I also have

a few palladium prints from digitally done negs and thay are very

good too, if I do say so myself.

 

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Cheers

[richard_ilomaki]

Keith;

 

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Sorry. The E Mail address is richardjx@hotmail.com