Fuji Crystal Archive Paper?

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Sean

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I see a lot of lightjet prints being made on this paper. Does anyone know much about this paper? What "type" of paper is it and can you hand print color negative to it? Has anyone here ever hand printed onto crystal archive? Just curious, thanks
 

Eric Rose

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I use it all the time in the darkroom. It's my paper of choice. Very sharp and excellent colors, not to mention the great tonal qualities.
 

lee

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Last time I thought of color prints and which paper they were on and what it is called, it was C print was from a negative and R print was a reversal.

I may be wrong.

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It is also supposed to have a pretty good life-span. I want to say 60 years, but I could be wrong there. Nice stuff though as color papers go.
 

DKT

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C--neg/ R--reversal.

yeah, CA is rated in some tests to do very well--in the 40-65 yr range under the target conditions....Wilhelm's book covers some Fuji papers--SFA3--from the previous generation, and these outperformed just about all other c-papers, they had one at one time on a polyester base that was supposedly very stable as well.
 

Ed Sukach

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Sheesh - I've been using RA-4 paper all over the place to print Color Negative images. You mean - the stuff was intended for reversal film??

Sarcastic key [off]. Seriously .. the "c" was derived from (C)ibachrome - which is a direct positive paper. The "R" as in "RA-4" paper is from -- I haven't a clue. Could it have something to do with "resin"??

I know it replaced the "old" EP-2 process ... I would imagine that was from something like "Eastman Process, edition #2..".
 

David A. Goldfarb

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DKT to Ed translation:

C-print="chromogenic print"--a print from a color negative. RA-4 prints are C-prints. LightJets on Fuji Crystal Archive are "Digital C-prints"--digital output on the same paper used to print from color negs.

R-print="reversal print", which would include Fuji, Agfa, and Kodak reversal print materials as well as Cibachrome, though Cibachrome is a very different kind of process.

RA-4 is just Kodak's designation for a chemical process for processing C-print paper, not unlike designations such as "E-6" or "K-14" or "C-41" for various film processes.
 

Robert

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I'm half certain that the R is rapid. Rapid access? I was sure I'd seen it explained a little while ago but I can find the print out that had it explained. But rapid sounds right.
 

lee

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I am certain that David has it correct. I have bought a lot of C prints from negs and a lot of R prints from chromes.


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A paper used to be printed with ink/dyes by a computer printer and called Archive is to much for me. Has Fuji said something about that ? I.e. why did they choose the name "Archive" ?
 
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Well, my reason for the overall post is that in the near future I want to do some color work. I hear a lot that some color papers last "10-20 years then start fading", and that Fuji 'crystal archive' has a much longer life span. So, I thought if I'm going to print color I want the print to have a good lifespan. It seems like the fuji paper is good stuff, but I am still in the early stages of exploring my options.
 

David A. Goldfarb

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Crystal Archive isn't an inkjet paper. It can be and is frequently used with a conventional enlarger and it is processed in conventional RA-4 type chemistry.

A LightJet printer uses a laser to form an image on a conventional color negative enlarging paper, and Crystal Archive is the most popular paper used for this process. Fuji Frontier printers which also have scanning modules and greater automation for minilabs do the same for smaller sized prints.
 

Thilo Schmid

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Sean,
you may want to take a look at the thread labeled "longevity: FB, RC, colour, digital".
 
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Crystal Archive also seems to be favored, at least around here, as the paper to print your own color on 99% of the time.

I've had quite a few Frontier prints done, and it seems to be a decent paper. It does B/W surprisingly well.

For a color paper of course....
 

DKT

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David A. Goldfarb said:
Crystal Archive isn't an inkjet paper. It can be and is frequently used with a conventional enlarger and it is processed in conventional RA-4 type chemistry.

A LightJet printer uses a laser to form an image on a conventional color negative enlarging paper, and Crystal Archive is the most popular paper used for this process. Fuji Frontier printers which also have scanning modules and greater automation for minilabs do the same for smaller sized prints.

CA is just a regular old color printing paper for the newer RA4 process. I always figured RA stood for Rapid Access (as opposed to EP2), but don't know for sure ---don't really care. Type C paper is for printing color negs--Type R is reversal paper for printing slides. Cibachrome is Cibachrome....There are few R papers left, I think Kodak & Fuji have discontinued theirs as recently as last year....

Lightjet printers are as David has explained. They image using lasers on an X-Y axis and need to use a material that has a minimum area of about 4x4 or so. This is one reason why they're priced out at a square foot--and why there may be minimum prices regardless of size--just like using a large laminator in a way--there is an amount of material that will be used up even if the print is just a 5x7 or so. OTOH, the labs will gang prints up & cut them out to maximize this...the lab we use where I work does this, and the fees always fluctuate based on size of the job and how much work they have on a daily basis...

A Durst Lambda printer is similar--but images along a slit more or less, as the paper moves through the machine. They can image to smaller sizes, but don't hold the resolution of type for example, that a Lightjet has. Both of these printers have made huge inroads into commercial signage and printing--since you can output composite text & images onto photographic papers.

You can use almost any roll type photo material as well--not just CA. There's a traveling exhibit of photographs from the National Archives, that was done on a Lightjet with b&w RC paper for example. NARA also uses contract vendors for patron prints--these places seem to use Frontier prints mostly now.

Frontier printers--my understanding of them from another lab we use at work--is they use a screen much like a monitor to burn the image onto paper. Apparently Noritsu has a rival system that's better than this coming out now...at any rate, the printers are coupled in with scanners etc--much like a minilab package printer.

So--yeah--not inkjets, not even close. The NARA exhibit "Picturing the Century" is a traveling version of the one that hung at the National Archives in DC for many years. Both of these are fantastic exhibits, but the one in DC had original prints and more than the traveling show. The museum I work for had the traveling one a couple of years ago, and I was really blown away by the quality of the prints....since then, I'd say 75% of the color work we've done, and almost all the murals etc have been done on Frontiers or Lightjets, and some Lambda machines--in my opinion, the Lightjets are the best, but Frontiers are good for small prints and alot cheaper too.


BTW--I can't remember this exactly-- the lambda and lightjets are the same pricinciple, but work differently. one uses LEDs, the other uses lasers, with the frontiers using a CRT almost.

KT

Opinions expressed in this message may not represent the policy of my agency.
 

Robert

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While we're talking paper. One of the local places seems to be having a sale on Kodak roll paper. Not sure what a person would do with 1200 feet of 4,5 or 6" paper but the price doesn't seem bad.
 
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