uk digital cibachromes?

coigach · Jun 28, 2007

Hello,

I shot mostly dr5-processed b+w trannies, and in the past have had both tradtional Cibachrome prints and Lmbda Fuji Crystal Archive prints made for framing. I live in the UK.

I have been looking at the Elevator site and read about Cibachromes printed digitally with the Lambda. Does anyone have any experience of using this, and/or know of a UK lab which prints Lambda Cibachrome?

Thanks for your help.

Best wishes,
Gavin

garri · Jun 28, 2007

Hey Gavin, not sure if its a Lambda but BPD do digital Ilfochrome, nice they are too.

Cheers
Gari
Dead Link Removed

coigach · Jun 28, 2007

Garri, thanks for reply.

BPD are great, that's who I use to print my hand-printed Cibas. Had a look on their site but can't see any info about digital Cibas printed with Lambda. It might be me being unobservant though...!?

It's a pretty rare process as far as I know, I'd love to see some finished prints. I only get certain transparencies hand-printed printed on Ciba, as it tends to increase the contrast and saturation. I love the depth and slight '3D' effect though. Lambda Cibas seem to offer the best of both worlds...?

Best wishes,
Gavin

PS - am hoping to visit Ross of Mull sometime this year to take photos of township at Shiaba, cleared during the highland clearances...

garri · Jun 28, 2007

Hi Gavin, look in the prices link, they are in the gloss/metallic print section.
I would love to get out with you when you are here if the time works out.

I recently started a self publish book project recording the old townships here on Mull, Shiaba is one of the plots on the list for recon!!!

If you are coming this way soonish you could pop in to Richard Childs Gallery in Oban, he sells Digi ilfochromes as well as Cibachromes so would be a good chance to see them side by side, he is a very approachable guy.
I would struggle to spot the difference myself, especially in smaller prints, 12x15 etc.
Richard has some stunning 20x24 Cibas in which are a sight to behold.

regards

Gari

coigach · Jun 29, 2007

Thanks for info.

Good luck with Mull townships project - sounds interesting. Will email if I make it to your neck of the woods - was roughly planning autumn?

Cheers for tip of gallery in Oban, will call next time I'm in Oban.

Still unsure if BPD do Lambda Cibas. Suspect they do digital output on Fuji Super Glossy? Will email them to check.

There are only a handful of Lambda's in the UK as far as I know (big money!), but prints from them are incredibly sharp and detailed. It's uncommon to print from a Lambda onto Ciba paper though. Elevator in Toronto do, I'd love to find out more.

Primary in London use a Lambda (but not printed on Ciba) but I found they did a lazy and poor job on my initial prints, although to be fair, they reprinted them well when I complained. The initial scans they did to print from my 120 transparencies were terrible...:rolleyes:

Cheers,
Gavin

Bob Carnie · Jun 29, 2007

Hi Gavin
Bob here from Elevator. We are going to do a run of cibachromes in Aug, nothing to stop you from sending files to our ftp , I am printing for people in China, East and West Coast North America and just finished a series of prints for a young photographer in Paris. All on ftp transfer and shipping in tubes. We would love to print for Brits as well.
If you sign up on our site www.elevatordigital.ca you will get all our propaganda as well as pricing.
There was a rather large show in Canada House last year in the UK by a local artist that was all done by our lab which showed the quality of the process. If I can say so myself they were beautiful prints at 30inc x 40inch.I am not sure but I believe the prints or some of them are in the UK for viewing , I will check this out.
Most labs with lambdas are basically commercial labs running at 200ppi and are interested in cranking out ra4 prints.
We only run at 400ppi and are not concerened with the slower speed and as well we specialize in the harmon fibre paper and cibachrome for show work.
Metro Imagine*argentia* and Picto Lab in Paris will do digital lambda fibers as well.
We only print ciba 3-4 times a year now due to lack of demand, process control and concentrating on one process at a time.
Cibachromes are very fragile and we like to concentrate our resources for short bursts rather than trying to keep the chems alive all year long and sporadically print a ciba here and there.
best regards
Bob

coigach said:
Thanks for info.

Good luck with Mull townships project - sounds interesting. Will email if I make it to your neck of the woods - was roughly planning autumn?

Cheers for tip of gallery in Oban, will call next time I'm in Oban.

Still unsure if BPD do Lambda Cibas. Suspect they do digital output on Fuji Super Glossy? Will email them to check.

There are only a handful of Lambda's in the UK as far as I know (big money!), but prints from them are incredibly sharp and detailed. It's uncommon to print from a Lambda onto Ciba paper though. Elevator in Toronto do, I'd love to find out more.

Primary in London use a Lambda (but not printed on Ciba) but I found they did a lazy and poor job on my initial prints, although to be fair, they reprinted them well when I complained. The initial scans they did to print from my 120 transparencies were terrible...:rolleyes:

Cheers,
Gavin

coigach · Jul 1, 2007

Cheers for reply Bob, very helpful. Am at the 'what if' stage right now, but will probably email elevator later with a few more detailed questions when I'm next planning on getting prints done .

Thanks for your help.

Best wishes,
Gavin

bob carnie said:
Hi Gavin
Bob here from Elevator. We are going to do a run of cibachromes in Aug, nothing to stop you from sending files to our ftp , I am printing for people in China, East and West Coast North America and just finished a series of prints for a young photographer in Paris. All on ftp transfer and shipping in tubes. We would love to print for Brits as well.
If you sign up on our site www.elevatordigital.ca you will get all our propaganda as well as pricing.
There was a rather large show in Canada House last year in the UK by a local artist that was all done by our lab which showed the quality of the process. If I can say so myself they were beautiful prints at 30inc x 40inch.I am not sure but I believe the prints or some of them are in the UK for viewing , I will check this out.
Most labs with lambdas are basically commercial labs running at 200ppi and are interested in cranking out ra4 prints.
We only run at 400ppi and are not concerened with the slower speed and as well we specialize in the harmon fibre paper and cibachrome for show work.
Metro Imagine*argentia* and Picto Lab in Paris will do digital lambda fibers as well.
We only print ciba 3-4 times a year now due to lack of demand, process control and concentrating on one process at a time.
Cibachromes are very fragile and we like to concentrate our resources for short bursts rather than trying to keep the chems alive all year long and sporadically print a ciba here and there.
best regards
Bob

David Henderson · Jul 3, 2007

I saw Bob Carnie's digital cibachromes in London last year and I thought they were very good. Better in fact than most labs attempts to print Ilfochrome optically.

I can offer two thoughts, both slightly off your track since I'm not aware of anyone making digital Ilfochrome in the UK. The first is that there are processes you might find a little easier to buy in the UK that would turn out a broadly similar result. In particular you might find someone printing on Fujiflex from a LightJet or Lambda. The depth of colour, dmax and finish of these prints seem a little superior to the more usually available Crystal Archive. Personally I like this approach better than Ilfochromes but it is of course a personal thing.

Second, do consider having your prints made overseas. I've been getting prints made by WCI in California for several years now but at today's exchange rate the prices available for Chromira prints are much below anything I can get for similar quality in the UK, even taking into account Fedex charges. If you can order in batches, make the files yourself and soft-proof using the profiles you can download, you keep the transport and timescales to a minimum, and the prices for Fujiflex prints from their Chromira are excellent value. Look at www.westcoastimaging.com and look at their Print-Lab prices. I've tested this process and it works very well. As far as I'm concerned if I can't brief a printer face-to -face I don't care whether they are 60 or 6000 miles away. In either case its an ftp or e-mail away.

coigach · Jul 4, 2007

Thanks for this David, plenty food for thought.

I'm not averse to sending stuff overseas (all my b+W film is reverse-processed to tranny by dr5 in Denver USA, see http://www.dr5.com ) so may well go for the option you suggest. Thanks for the uk info too

Best wishes,
Gavin

David Henderson said:
I saw Bob Carnie's digital cibachromes in London last year and I thought they were very good. Better in fact than most labs attempts to print Ilfochrome optically.

I can offer two thoughts, both slightly off your track since I'm not aware of anyone making digital Ilfochrome in the UK. The first is that there are processes you might find a little easier to buy in the UK that would turn out a broadly similar result. In particular you might find someone printing on Fujiflex from a LightJet or Lambda. The depth of colour, dmax and finish of these prints seem a little superior to the more usually available Crystal Archive. Personally I like this approach better than Ilfochromes but it is of course a personal thing.

Second, do consider having your prints made overseas. I've been getting prints made by WCI in California for several years now but at today's exchange rate the prices available for Chromira prints are much below anything I can get for similar quality in the UK, even taking into account Fedex charges. If you can order in batches, make the files yourself and soft-proof using the profiles you can download, you keep the transport and timescales to a minimum, and the prices for Fujiflex prints from their Chromira are excellent value. Look at www.westcoastimaging.com and look at their Print-Lab prices. I've tested this process and it works very well. As far as I'm concerned if I can't brief a printer face-to -face I don't care whether they are 60 or 6000 miles away. In either case its an ftp or e-mail away.

uk digital cibachromes?

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