tim said:
Blame someone else for your own short sightedness? If thios is the situatiuon at your lab IU'd start looking for a new job. Every decent lab, big and small, has already gone this route and diversified. As a major lab, if you haven't invested in a Lambda, Lightjet, Chromira, Frontier etc, and possibly wide format inkets to go alongside your analogue line, along with the expertise to go with it and already started building a reputation, it's probably too late. Your competitors are already well ahead of you.
Either that or become a small boutique B&W hand print lab
Sad but true.
Look--I agree with you, and we've already been doing that. We've been at least partially digital since the late 90s. But the fact is that I work for an agency that sells our work as a service to the general public--AT COST. We also design and fabricate museum exhbits throughout an entire state, and support small museums with no photo services. The labs left in operation are all paid for, and they have teeny-weeny budgets compared to a commercial lab. our budget is like less than 1% of the entire budget, and then they have to look at everything needed to run every other little part of the department. If they're down to scraping pennies in one part of the system and shutting off power and cutting phones to keep from laying off employees, what do you think the chances of getting a half million dollar lightjet are, when you'd need the RA processor and the drum scanner as well?
It's not for lack of trying either. We were all set to get a Fuji Pictro printer back in 2000, and a hurricane came through the state and flooded out almost all of eastern part, and caused a huge amount of damage. They took money out of every nook and cranny of the system, and so went the pictro printer and then $10K at that time earmarked for it.
So it sounds nice and easy to say we've missed the boat and all that, but sorry--you're not standing in my shoes. there are long standing laws that govern preservation through the use of film. there are programs with matching federal grants that require film and paper too. We must provide these services, which were set decades ago, as a service to the public as long as those laws are on the books. It is going to be *no different* on the Federal level. You can call it shortsighted or what have you, but I know we're not alone, and I know we're trying for the best given the circumstances that govern us.
As for the commercial labs-- we send our color and murals out to contract vendors. One uses Frontiers, and they do most of our patron work---this lab is hurting bad now. very slow times. A lab with a lightjet does some of the murals. They have to bid on the jobs. Sometimes they win, but they also lose. low bid wins. as a lab, this is what you have to look forward to. competing for a job that you'll probably lose money on.
No--I don't think the labs with the lightjets are doing very well either, seeing them bid 350 bucks on a 16 foot c-print mural, mounted to sintra and laminated, with the drum scan thrown in for free and no shipping fees. Or seeing a lab from out of state, crate a job and have it weigh 800 pounds and have it shipped overnight for free.
I've been shooting digital at work since 1996, and we've been using inkjets for signage since before that. Our silkscreen shop has all but shut down. The whole way they do exhibit signage and murals has changed in the past decade. But, I *never* thought Kodak would pull out like this. We will become a "small boutique lab" because that's our business I guess, but considering we had a longstanding relationship with kodak and they used to sell materials at over 80% off, it's a tough nut....
I want to do a good job and I hope what I produce will be around after I'm gone. I want it to be useful for future generations, since so much of what I print at work came from others like me who've long since retired or passed away. I'm sure they had similar doubts during their time. It doesn't mean I can't complain about it though. We always say that "it's not about you, it's about the institution"--when it comes to the job. If the powers thatbe decide it no longer has to be film or paper--then so be it--we'll go in whatever direction we have to.
It's not MY decision. As they say, I only work here. What I fear will happen will be that we'll have to use consumer printers and whatever else they can get on low bid contracts. It will not be some fancy piece of equipment. It won't be the latest & greates piece of gear--it will be something we'll have to use until it dies. We'll be using it forever, until we're forced to surplus it and scrape the funds together for another piece of equipment. I see it happen all around me. With buildings, furnishings, vehicles, roads etc. Whatever purchase you make, better be a good one, because it will be years before you get the opportunity to upgrade. In terms of traditional photo materials, this works okay, since so little has really changed in the past 20 yrs or so. In terms of digital, it's pretty depressing. Like the Nikon digital camera we bought for over $7000 in 1996 that was 1.6 megapixels, and we had to use it until the D100 came out. Now we can't even get a D70 because there's no money---and YOU tell me, we're behind, like I'm stupid or lazy? Like I deserve it?
my opinions only/not my employers
