joeyk49 said:
I know prints and I know slides, but what is transparency film all about. What are its advantages and detractions? (Be kind, my naitivity is showing...)
How do you print from it? Can you?
Advantages: publications like it because they know what the image colors are supposed to look like when printed. Same for making prints - you have a positive image that you can compare with the print. Color saturation on certain films is much higher than color negative film.
Disadvantages: 5.5 - 6 stop exposure range (shadow to highlight) compared to over 10 on some color negative films. Some transparency emulsions have very high contrast. Nearly zero (0) exposure latitude when compared to negative film. This means the exposure has to be very accurate - you have to know the how to meter the scene and the film characteristics.
Prints: there are wet darkroom techniques - you can have an internegative made and then print on C material. Or you can use a direct reversal material - Ilfochrome.
Digital prints: Frontier print uses a machine that makes a direct scan from the film and prints on standard color photo paper. Not my favorite - I can see the print scan lines upon close examination without a loupe. A better method is to get a scan from a high end scanner like a drum scanner or Imacon. Once the image is scanned you can choose to print on standard color photo paper using a LightJet printer or Lambda printer. Or, you can choose to print using an inkjet printer. The only inks that are considered archival are pigment inks on neutral pH lignin-free paper, or inks from specific Hewlett - Packard printers on matching HP papers.
