digital c-type prints

I like digital c-prints much better for color. First of all, they’re the same paper as traditional c-prints so that’s a benefit if you like color darkroom prints. Also, for me the color always seemed more natural and less harsh. You can get good saturation and vivid colors, but also you’ll also get more subtlety and smoothness.

I never had as much luck doing epson color prints, I guess because what I really wanted was for it to look like a traditional c-print.

They’re free, so definitely give it a try. I use mpix.com for my color prints. They’re cheap, and a huge benefit is I don’t have to buy expensive epson ink and paper anymore. The prices seem competitive with inkjet when you factor in those costs.

thanks for that noah, obviously its worth checking them out. i’ve recently discovered an inkjet paper called innova fibaprint which knocks spots off anything else i’ve tried but you still never get a true high gloss finish. i’ll let you know how i get on with the c-types once i see the tests…

Aren’t Fuji Crystal Archive prints off the Frontier machine “digital C prints”?

Doesn’t digital C print just refer to any non-inkjet color print?

Fuji Crystal Archive is the paper they use so you’re probably right – i’ve just never seen chemical prints from a digital file before, never occurred to me that the process existed. i’ve always done my own printing so to me digital printing means inkjet and chemicals are for film. glad to be enlightened on this… (as with so many other things!)

The Frontier stuff is excellent. It’s also how most negatives are printed these days (machine scans the frame and prints it optically using lasers on the reactive paper). Give it a shot. This stuff is dirt cheap, too.

There are roughly two digital C prints. One off the Frontier on Fuji Crystal Archive paper can be cheap. There is another machine similar to the Frontier, called Noritsu, which produces digital C prints (digital machine prints) as well. Noritsu users tend to use Kodak papers.

There are different levels of digital C prints which are produced on the Lightjet machine or Chromira. These are more expensive, comparable to custom C prints. This allows the use of printer profiles, and you can proof your image in Photoshop prior to send it to the lab.

Some Frontier and Noritsu machines at those cheap machine printing places could have been on the list of available printer profiles. Drycreek Photo in the US has been doing this. I`ll post the URL later.

Their icc printer profile page

David, there are many labs in the UK that have been profiled. In other countries, the list is short, but the US labs have been done most extensively and then comes the UK.

Yes, the frontier machines do digital c-prints, as do lightjet, poli laserlab and others.

Many non-inkjet prints are digital c-prints, but there are a few other processes like dye sublimation. Real digital c-prints use a machine with a light source, I think a laser, that exposes chromogenic darkroom paper to light. The paper must then be processed just as if you made a darkroom print. The machines are seriously expensive.

The color prints I’ve done have all been on pearl surface paper, which isn’t all that glossy. But any color paper should work in the machines, so ask them if they can use a glossy paper and you should be able to get what you want.

I mostly shoot black and white and so I do inkjets for portfolio prints or fiber darkroom prints for exhibitions, etc.

Does that innova paper look like fiber based bw paper? That would be exciting, I’ll have to give it a try.

I’ve heard rumours of a few companies doing fiber BW prints on a lightjet. Haven’t tried that yet, but I’m extremely curious about it…

Frontiers and Noritsus are minilab machines, and may not be as expensive as Lightjet and Chromira machines which prolabs are using to create large C prints. There is a difference between the Lightjet and Chromira machines since the former uses laser while the latter uses LED. The Chromira process is preferred by West Coast Imaging, which I have not tried myself.

There are also a few labs in New York (NYC) using Chomira printers. They are, from what I’ve seen, by far superior quality prints. The accompanying cutter can make prints from 4×6” to 40 to 50 inches wide by any length (like 250 feet max). If you need negs scanned or files processed, or if you want to upload files to be printed SugarHill Works can help. If you want more self-serve, you can drop your files off at Print Space on 19th ST – they make Chromira C-Prints on Kodak Endura (40” max). We (SugarHill Works) have made prints for our clients on the Chromira at Print Space and had excellent results. Also there is a drop-off lab called Color Space on 20th btw 6th/7th that has a 50” Chromira, but his prices are much higher than SugarHill Works or Print Space.

p.s. I know from the Chromira guy at Photo Expo that their 50” machine can be outfitted with special software/setup that allows it to produce prints on C-paper, RC, or BW fiber!

I have switched to digital c prints for color work, Durst printer at elcocolor.com, but the B&Ws leave something to be desired, so I think the good B&W inkjets are the way to go.
Jeremy

thanks for all the advice. i dont know what kind of machine these people use but i’ll find out. curiously they’re also called print space – except they’re in kingsland rd, east london. coincidence or franchise?

noah – innova fibaprint ultra smooth gloss is a proper fibre based paper and has a wonderful tactile quality to it, 285gms. it also has the richest colours and the highest d-max of any paper i’ve tried inc hahnemuhle, davinci, crane etc. check it out – best thing going for inkjet, colour or bw.

i’ve used the chromira at printspace (nyc) and it worked great.

not to highjack the thread but for black and white fiber has any one tried or seen any stuff from Beth Schiffers DeVere enlarger?