My group did our album cover as a RA-4 print, including the type and layout as on acetate sheets (with dry transfer letters) over the Fuji Crystal Archive paper during the exposure. We felt like we would've gotten different results if we scanned the negative and did the layout in Illustrator.
We have a Durst RPC 40, which I love, but only do RA-4 printing sessions very occasionally because the ventilation isn't quite up to the job and the fumes start to bother me after a while.
It's a mistake to assume that if odor per se isn't that obnoxious, you aren't being affected. One can boast that RA4 has never bothered them, and then all of a sudden, whameee, and you suddenly become sensitized to it. Serious ventilation is critical. In fact, I don't even do the processing indoors at all. The paper is exposed and loaded in drums, and the processing transpires on a portable cart with the rotation machine outdoors.
Well that's freaking awesome. Analog all the way!
Thanks for the kind words! It's a bit stressful lining things up (not that's perfect or anything!) and worrying about bumping the easel on the second exposure but I love the fact that once it's done, it's done (no endless digital tinkering). I also feel like optically printed letters are a bit hard to fake.
We sadly couldn't afford to go full-on militant analog-only and do flatbed camera four color screen separation plates, which would've been nice.
I like your cover art too! It has that analogue feel you’re just not going to get with digital.Drew, is it possible to evaluate the effectiveness of ventilation with tech? Are there sensors/devices one can install in a darkroom to measure the degree of air pollution?
I'm curious about this. Seems to be very little interest. I have printed RA4 a lot in the past. I've been wondering is this still happening?
To be perfectly honest, I can't tell the difference between a well made ink jet print and a well made RA4 print.
I was on the phone with a friend this morning. This is one of the subjects we touched upon and he was rather hesitant to dust off his roller transport processor because he has a new inkjet printer on the way. He argued that RA4 is pretty much a dead end street (and analog color photography in general), and that inkjet prints are pretty darn good. Well, it was no argument, because I could only agree with him. Like you, I like the film-based process, but from a rational point of view, it's silly to hang onto RA4. It's really hard to tell the difference if both prints are made well. I often visit museums and honestly I usually can't tell if a decent color print is a C-print or an inkjet.
Nobody on earth with normal eyesight is ever going to confuse ANY of my RA4 prints with an inkjet print.
In fact, I don't even do the processing indoors at all. The paper is exposed and loaded in drums, and the processing transpires on a portable cart with the rotation machine outdoors.
No Drew, they were essentially forced to sell all that business and associated physical assets under the terms of the bankruptcy, never to attain any future benefit from any royalties associated with it. It became the property of the Kodak Limited Pension plan, who transferred it to their wholly owned, newly created corporation, Kodak Alaris Ltd. A few years later, Kodak Alaris then turned around and sold the remaining physical assets and business related to the colour photographic paper and photo-chemicals to Sino-Promise.
Eastman Kodak still "owns" the Kodak name, but the license to use it was fully pre-paid.
Kodak Alaris still has contracts respecting still film with Eastman Kodak - those at least started out under terms prescribed in the bankruptcy. Sino Promise does not have such contracts, other than ones where one is a customer of the other for some minor supply arrangements (e.g. control strips).
Towards the end of Kodak Alaris' involvement with colour paper and photo chemicals, Kodak Alaris had moved to obtaining product from Sino Promise or entities associated with it - Sino Promise and related entities became a major manufacturer for them. The sale to them consolidated that business.
And then the pandemic just about drove Sino Promise out of business.
Matt, do you know what are the chances of seeing Kodak color papers again ? Even in a perfect world, transferring production to a wholly new plant, and halfway around the globe world be risky.
It looks like Sino Promise is making some chemistry for export. The Zero Covid policy in China, disruption of trade, and what looks like a big financial mess for SinoPromise makes me wonder if we will ever see these papers again.
Alaris must be making money on film, that's a very good thing.
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