Prints from slides - HELP!!!

[adzy]

I stay in the Bay area, and I am hoping that someone will be able to

point me to good slide printing facility.

 

Help, so far printing from slides has been oh-so-disappointing for

me. I usually shoot velvia, and look at the results on a slide

projector at home. On screen- the colours are vivid, the whole slide

looks tack sharp. However, when I finally take the prints- the

colours are muddy, contrast, sharpness is gone. The print is a very

poor copy of the original.

 

I am looking to get 12X18s. I have tried prints at several locations-

ritz camera (they were the worst), costco etc. Its not a very cost-

efective way of trying out the best place to get prints from. Calypso

is NOT an option because of the charges (175+).

 

I understand that the print will possibly not hold as much contrast

as the slide- but is getting a good print that difficult? Seems like

I am better off with shooting negative film instead.

[erik]

Search the archives. Lots of places, but to some extent you get what you pay for, especially as you want to blow up a 35mm to 12x18. Landscapes? Portraits? You can track down a Ciba lab and get colorul stuff for landscapes.

 

Are the bad prints you're getting from labs that use internegatives or digital (eg Frontier) prints/scans? Find out (ask) and try a lab that does the other one--maybe you'll like the look better. But nothing will look as good as a well-projected slide.

[peter_witkop]

In my experience most prints from slides at 1-hour type labs, are not that great, and are often made with an inter-negative. The Frontier ones should be quit a bit better, never tried it myself though. The prints I've been most happy with (by _far_) were ilfochromes (formerly cibachrome). I've seen very good lightjet prints, never had those done myself. As far as neg vs. transparency film, it all depends on what you want to do with it. I personally like tranny because I like the grain and sharpness I get with it over neg, and I proof my images in strips on a lightbox, and only have a relativly few scanned or printed. The thing that bothers me about prints from negs is mostly the longevity issue. For someone used to the longevity of silver (b&w), or ilfochrome prints (200+ years, and 100+ years respectivly) even crystal archive has a relatively short lifespan (around 60 IIRC, given kodaks projections for color prints, I'd say that's probably in very close to ideal conditions as well). But with color negs my experience is you can get better machine prints which are much cheaper.

[jonathan_bundick]

I have never had a decent print made from slides on the Frontier. I have never had a great print made from slides using the internegative process.

 

If you want good quality from slides you will have to pay. Try West Coast Imaging. It won't cost you $175 but 11x14's are $49 for the drum scan and the print.

 

http://www.westcoastimaging.com/wci/page/services/colorprint/standard.htm

[m._huber]

It is very hard to judge a future print from an image projected on a screen. Try a light box or light that passes through a slide onto a white paper.

[lemastre]

My lab does a good job with Frontier, so I wouldn't reject the

Frontier process. It takes some care, no doubt.

[majid]

I have had excellent results scanning Velvia and printing the result on a Lightjet (Pictopia.com).

 

I would assume a Frontier or Noritsu would give a decent result as well, as long as you give them a digital original (I don't know how good the scanner on a digital minilab is for slides, I suspect not very).

 

Nothing matching the contrast of a slide on a lightbox, to be sure, but still quite acceptable in terms of sharpness and colors.

[Michael R Freeman]

I agree with Keith - a good lab can make a very nice digital/Frontier print. The difference between the Frontier prints I get now and the optical prints (by interneg or direct print) that I used to have made is like night and day. And this was from one of the more highly respected pro-sumer labs in my province - even they had difficulty printing slides before the digital age.

 

Find a good lab that will print your slides digitally and you will not be quite so disappointed. A 1hr minilab staffed by someone making minimum wage is probably not going to do a very good job printing from a high contrast slide film like Velvia. Most of them have enough trouble printing from negative films! :-)

[david_henderson]

You have three choices.

 

1. Keep looking for a Frontier lab where the people know how to

do what you want. This is the cheap way. You might start with a

search here.

 

2. Grit your teeth and pay someone like WCI to scan and print

your very best work for you. There are various levels at which you

can buy into the service. This is the expensive way but it will be

good and you can have it now.

 

3. Buy a film scanner and learn how to scan. adjust your files

and calibrate them for output to a printer which can either be at

yours or a labs. A lot of people do this, despite the fact that it

takes a lot of effort to become seriously good at it. This is the

capital intensive/time intensive way but that won't matter if you

enjoy it.

[r.t. dowling]

Scan the slide and upload the digital file to Adorama Digital Pro-Lab (featured here on

photo.net). They'll print it on Kodak Royal paper. I've done this a few times and the

results have been astounding. 8x10 prints are only $2.99.

[brent_bennett]

I have recently started using The Slideprinter in Denver.

Frontier prints are outstanding. I got 8x12's for $5.50 each.

I also am getting large prints from drum scans. A 20 x 30 is extremely beautiful; no visible grain, brilliant colors. People who have seen it who sell large prints from 4x5's are amazed that it is from a 35mm slide! I shoot landscapes, on Provia 100F. www.theslideprinter.com (Note, the 20x30 is on Fuji Supergloss; others on Fuji Crystal Archive.)

[juanio]

I agree with the scanning option. I had the same problem. Now I usually scan my slides with a film scanner. You can work with them on PS in order to get the results you want, and then bring them to a place where they offer digital printing (through quemical process). I have printed digitalized slides up to 12x18 and the results are amazing!!!

[blakley]

You should also consider finding a lab which will print

on Ilfochrome or Fuji Supergloss (I prefer Supergloss, because

it's less contrasty and you don't get metamerism if you look

at the picture from an angle.) A lab that does this well

will produce spectacular results - but not every lab does it

well, and it's expensive. I find that BWC in Dallas does

Supergloss very well, and they will work mail-order. Their

website is: http://www.bwc.net/home.php#