Vivitar Slide Printer

Anyone have any experience with these units? How reliable are they? What should I look for when buying one? Thanks.

J

thebanana said:

Anyone have any experience with these units? How reliable are they? What should I look for when buying one? Thanks.

J

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i have one. so far it seems reliable, although it's very lightweight and completely made of plastic. (the polaroid polaprinter is much more heavier and robust) some units run on 4 "C" batteries and some use an AC adapter. the battery operated units are obviously very portable because they are so light & dont need a power supply. i would check that the rollers are clean, although if they arent they can easily be cleaned later. i would make sure the unit powers up and the flash fires. these units, i believe, have some sort of auto exposure mechanism, and a slide MUST be inserted for the unit to fire (thats been my experience.) make sure it comes with the filter holder also.

Vivitar, daylab and polarpinter.....how about the enlarger?

I own a polaroid Polaprinter and am super happy with the result i find it is a more robust unit and compairing it to the vititar or daylabs there is much better colour , contrast and density rendition and also a much better sharpness. I use it to make polaroid prints, transfers and emulsion lifts in my lab.

if I need something of a much higher quality and image control I use my enlarger.
the results from being able to burn dodge and work the material is much superior.

hope this helps.

~Steve Frizza
The Lighthouse Lab