Labs with NON-INKJET prints?

[ChristopherCoy]

Which labs are still processing film and providing true color prints? I absolutely do not wants scans and inkjet prints. I want true 4x6 color prints.

 

[MattKing]

There are labs that print on RA-4 colour paper from scanned digital files. So that is a third option.
Up here Costco prints that way, but they no longer process film.
There are a couple of labs around here that will make custom enlargements by printing optically, but no-one local makes inexpensive optical prints.

 

[mshchem]

Yeah, I've scanned old Kodachrome with my Nikon Coolscan and made beautiful ink jet prints on glossy paper. Optical RA-4 prints are mostly a do it yourself thing anymore. My local lab scans negatives, but there's a lady who I have print my negatives, she personally adjusts each print. .

I know there's still a few labs out there using optical prints, Bluemooncamera for one.

 

[AgX]

There are a couple of labs around here that will make custom enlargements by printing optically, but no-one local makes inexpensive optical prints.

Typically such is done by labs specialized on the art world and here again typically for big enlargements.

 

[removedacct1]

Blue Moon Camera in Portland still makes optical prints.

 

[foc]

If you want optical prints made from negatives, then you may have to do some research. There are only a few labs doing optical printing.
Most printing from negs are done on lab scanners, like a Frontier etc and they produce a very good scan and print. (I would estimate that this has been done for the last 20 years or so). The main problem I have seen with scanned negs was that the operator scanned the negs and made auto software corrections which most people don't like.

When I had Frontier scanners/printers, I found the best results were made by making no auto-corrections but by visual (experienced) corrections from the monitor, it was usually just density plus or minus correction.

Regarding inkjet prints, then you are looking for a "wetlab" that produces RA4 prints. There are plenty of labs that produce these types of prints. Just ask the lab.

"Drylabs" are on the increase and I must say that they produce a very good print. In a lot of cases, it can be hard to tell which is the dry or wet print just by viewing the print (once you handle the print, it is then obvious)

Any good lab should be able to produce an excellent print no matter what equipment or process they use.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Any good lab should be able to produce an excellent print no matter what equipment or process they use.

Probably, but I specifically want old school, send them off, have them developed, no computer equipment involved prints.

 

[Donald Qualls]

no computer equipment involved prints.

That's going to cost you.

Even just processing your negatives involves computers (to keep track of who's film is which in a lab that might process a thousand rolls or more in a shift, manage replenishment and quality control, etc.).

If you process your own negatives, there are places that do optical prints, but those will be "custom" prints, in general, usually in larger sizes than, say, 8x10 (which come out of the Frontier or Noritsu and are laser exposed even if they're on RA-4 paper), and you can expect to pay dearly for the custom handling. The prints you get back, however, will generally be as good as your negative and instructions permit...

 

[BAC1967]

The Darkroom in California does silver prints.

https://thedarkroom.com/

 

[Ko.Fe.]

4x6 might be not even ink jet, but dyesub prints .

 

[Ian Grant]

Which labs are still processing film and providing true color prints? I absolutely do not wants scans and inkjet prints. I want true 4x6 color prints.

Many labs offer true colour prints however in many cases the negatives are scanned and then written back to colour paper using lasers. If you want darkroom prints that's hand printing and expensive. My local pro-lab switched to a Digital minilab for most of their prints over 15 years ago, before that they used a Fuji optical minilab that was computerisedfor exposure and colour balance. When the lab was first setup in the early 1980's they had 6 roll head colour printers each with its own operative and then there were C41 and E6 technicians for film processing.

When I last used the lab one woman did all the 35mm & 120 C41 film processing as well as the printing, while the lab was by then farming out E6 and LF C41 they actually had a higher throughput of film and prints as they specialised in processing for wedding and portrait photographer most of it by mail. While still going they've downsized to insignificance.

Ian

 

[koraks]

Which labs are still processing film and providing true color prints? I absolutely do not wants scans and inkjet prints. I want true 4x6 color prints.

If the "no computers" requirement is a hard one, I'd seriously consider doing it yourself. Color printing doesn't have to be awfully complicated and it certainly is fun to do.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

If the "no computers" requirement is a hard one, I'd seriously consider doing it yourself. Color printing doesn't have to be awfully complicated and it certainly is fun to do.

By no computers, I meant “no scanners or scanner tech.”

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Ok. It’s all going to blue moon. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[pentaxuser]

Many labs offer true colour prints however in many cases the negatives are scanned and then written back to colour paper using lasers. If you want darkroom prints that's hand printing and expensive. My local pro-lab switched to a Digital minilab for most of their prints over 15 years ago,
Ian

Interesting point Ian. We have a very good local Digital minilab which is surprising for the small size of the town but the equipment can only handle 8x10 prints When the proprietor wanted to do bigger prints she had to buy inkjet equipment she told me due to the sheer cost of upgrading RA4 equipment to handle bigger prints.

None of the above information I have supplied helps Christopher one jot of course but maybe helps explain why even RA4 gets expensive without any additional cost of optical printing.

pentaxuser

 

[Chan Tran]

Probably, but I specifically want old school, send them off, have them developed, no computer equipment involved prints.

Remember even if it's processed purely as film that is optically project the image on RA-4 paper it's still computer controlled from the C41 processor and the RA4 printer. Nobody would do it by hand for you. Even if someone do it by hand they may still use a timer that is computer controlled rather than a mechanical one.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Remember even if it's processed purely as film that is optically project the image on RA-4 paper it's still computer controlled from the C41 processor and the RA4 printer. Nobody would do it by hand for you. Even if someone do it by hand they may still use a timer that is computer controlled rather than a mechanical one.

I love the way y’all like to hook into a single minute detail and beat it like a long dead over ripe horse. It’s quite entertaining. A TIMER? How pedantic.

 

[Chan Tran]

I love the way y’all like to hook into a single minute detail and beat it like a long dead over ripe horse. It’s quite entertaining. A TIMER? How pedantic.

What I am saying is that today very difficult to do something without the computer.

 

[jtk]

Probably, but I specifically want old school, send them off, have them developed, no computer equipment involved prints.

Learn to do it yourself. Why not?

 

[Adrian Bacon]

I love the way y’all like to hook into a single minute detail and beat it like a long dead over ripe horse. It’s quite entertaining. A TIMER? How pedantic.

yeah... your point is you want a print that is made by actually putting the film into an enlarger and projecting it onto RA-4 paper instead of being scanned and digitally printed. Very few outfits do that any more as it’s just very expensive and not enough people are willing to pay for it.

I certainly have the capability to do it in my lab, but just simply don’t offer that service as it’s just not cost effective to do so, especially for smaller prints. If cost is no object and you just gotta have it, then that’s a different story, but as a normal standard service? Not a chance. It’s hard enough getting people to pay $10 for digital proof prints of a roll of 36 exposures, much less a couple of bucks per print for a full on analog print.

 

[MattKing]

For clarity, even the old style labs didn't use enlargers for develop and print orders.
They used machine printers and, toward the end, fancy video display analyzers.
I operated a machine printer for a couple of years, but we actually did test strips and custom correcting for our commercial/wedding photographer customers.
This looks like the machine I worked with:

 

[koraks]

By no computers, I meant “no scanners or scanner tech.”

I interpreted it as "no computer in the actual image making", so we're on the same page. My suggestion about diy is based on (1) the relatively high cost of having 4x6" prints made by hand (or did you mean 4x6'? That would change the situation!) And (2) the degree of control you have when doing it yourself. After all, a print requires interpretation of the image while making it, and I can very well imagine a photographer (certainly someone who prefers hand made) desiring a serious degree of control over the end result.
So there really was nothing pedantic about my post!

 

[AgX]

For clarity, even the old style labs didn't use enlargers for develop and print orders.
They used machine printers and, toward the end, fancy video display analyzers.

Not quite. Next to these were labs that, as with B&W, used a classic enlarger and manually exposure for colour prints too. But they were after the appearance of printers a niche business, devoted to special clients, as indicated above.

Typically out of those come these who do so still today.

 

[Ian Grant]

For clarity, even the old style labs didn't use enlargers for develop and print orders.
They used machine printers and, toward the end, fancy video display analyzers.
I operated a machine printer for a couple of years, but we actually did test strips and custom correcting for our commercial/wedding photographer customers.
This looks like the machine I worked with:

Actually these are quite like old fashion daylight enlargers, fixed focus and only one size. Roll head printers like these use fixed focus enlarger lenses, the paper is in a cassette, to vary print size you change the cassette and the enlarger lens which is on a turret. Lenses a all set to give the same exposure time.

Terry who owned my local pro-lab had worked for Durts UK who made these roll-head printers, it had been his job to set up and calibrate these roll head printers. Durst UK had an interesting history starting life as Pavelle owned by Kurt (Curt) Jacobson a Jewish refugee from Germany, he's best know for his books "Developing" and "Enlarging". Jacobson had his own Pavelle colour print process and paper it was sold in the UK to amateurs by Paterson. They also made machine processors and printers, eventually being bough by Durst.

Ian

 

[Bob Carnie]

Actually these are quite like old fashion daylight enlargers, fixed focus and only one size. Roll head printers like these use fixed focus enlarger lenses, the paper is in a cassette, to vary print size you change the cassette and the enlarger lens which is on a turret. Lenses a all set to give the same exposure time.

Terry who owned my local pro-lab had worked for Durts UK who made these roll-head printers, it had been his job to set up and calibrate these roll head printers. Durst UK had an interesting history starting life as Pavelle owned by Kurt (Curt) Jacobson a Jewish refugee from Germany, he's best know for his books "Developing" and "Enlarging". Jacobson had his own Pavelle colour print process and paper it was sold in the UK to amateurs by Paterson. They also made machine processors and printers, eventually being bough by Durst.

Ian

We had this exact printer in the Wedding Studio I worked at in the late 70;s It was awesome device for proofing 5 inch rolls for proofs. We hand printed on a enlarger the wedding albums. The paper was loaded into the back and as Ian says fixed focus lenses, I believe we had a few settings for different magnifications , no dodge no burn, just plain out exposing and balancing out the colour. When you finished you turned out the lights, open the back cut the paper and Bag it to the processor which was in our case a Kodak 20 inch colour processor.