What was R3 reversal process

rbrigham · Sep 13, 2024

Hi All

Dose anybody have any details on what the R3 reversal printing process for slides actually was

how did it differ from RA4 reversal
was the paper similar to RA4
what were the process steps
was it commonly done in home darkrooms or was it too complicated

I've got it in my head that it was just RA4 paper that was adjusted to not need the c41 orange mask but I don't know where I got that from

John Salim · Sep 13, 2024

Kodak 'Process R-3' was a colour reversal paper process ( positive - positive ) designed for making colour prints from colour transparencies.
It consisted of First Developer, Colour Developer and Bleach-Fix, and required Kodak Ektachrome Radiance III paper.
And yes it could be done at home using a consumer kit version of the process called R-3000.

Although it did the same thing as Ilford Cibachrome, it was a totally different ( and incompatible ) system.

Process RA-4 is a colour negative print system for making colour prints from colour negatives ( negative - negative ).

John S

miha · Sep 13, 2024

I've found a list of photo papers compatible with the R3 process in one of my photo books. Here it is: Agfa-Gevaert - agfachrome typ 63; Kodak - ektachrome 22; Labaphot - labachrome CRP; Tetenal - TT speed color typ 3. ... there was a time when photographers were spoiled for choice.

DREW WILEY · Sep 13, 2024

These were casually referred to as "R" prints (made from slides via reversal), versus those chromogenic "C" prints made from color negatives. But both involved color coupler dyes formed during processing. I wonder how many R prints have survived; their permanence characteristics were rather disappointing; but the C prints from that era weren't all that great in that respect either.

Cibachrome was the heir of catalytic (dye-destruction) print technology begun with Gasparcolor in the 30's. In that case, highly stable dyes were incorporated into the paper in advance, and then the unwanted dyes were removed after exposure with a strong acid bleach. The base material was not a paper at all, but a shiny polyester support. Ciba was far superior to R prints in terms of both permanence and look, and caught on with both commercial labs and amateur darkrooms. Now it's gone too.

Mick Fagan · Sep 14, 2024

In the 80's and somewhere into the mid to late 90's, the Kodak R3 process was a huge money spinner for Kodak.

In the graphic arts industry, magazines and especially retail catalogues that were the mainstay of department store chains and supermarket chains, had every product going into their magazine or catalogue photographed on transparency film (slide film). All of these slides were then used to make colour prints to an exact size of a tracing paper outline in a darkroom. The subsequent prints which were processed in an R3 processor were then pasted onto a master page, which was either the same size as the end product, or done at something like 150% of the end product.

This paste up was then re-photographed using a gallery camera, with roll film usually around 300mm in width, but could be up to 1000mm in width, with various width roll films available. From this single sheet of film (the master negative) the printer would use this to print the catalogue. If it was for four colour process, then the camera operator would take multiple exposures using a line ruled glass screen to make each colour negative halftone image. Any more detail and we could be here until Christmas, but you should get an idea.

When computers merged with imaging systems, the camera original transparency film was scanned with drum scanners or flatbed scanners, with the software electronically creating halftone film as an output. As a result the R3 process dropped off a cliff in the 90's; it never came back.

DREW WILEY · Sep 14, 2024

Here process cameras and R prints were as dead as a Tasmanian Wolf even by the mid-80's. Scanning had already taken over, with the exception of cheap stat cameras in T-shirt shops and for casual signage purposes.

mshchem · Sep 14, 2024

Mick Fagan said:
In the 80's and somewhere into the mid to late 90's, the Kodak R3 process was a huge money spinner for Kodak.

In the graphic arts industry, magazines and especially retail catalogues that were the mainstay of department store chains and supermarket chains, had every product going into their magazine or catalogue photographed on transparency film (slide film). All of these slides were then used to make colour prints to an exact size of a tracing paper outline in a darkroom. The subsequent prints which were processed in an R3 processor were then pasted onto a master page, which was either the same size as the end product, or done at something like 150% of the end product.

This paste up was then re-photographed using a gallery camera, with roll film usually around 300mm in width, but could be up to 1000mm in width, with various width roll films available. From this single sheet of film (the master negative) the printer would use this to print the catalogue. If it was for four colour process, then the camera operator would take multiple exposures using a line ruled glass screen to make each colour negative halftone image. Any more detail and we could be here until Christmas, but you should get an idea.

When computers merged with imaging systems, the camera original transparency film was scanned with drum scanners or flatbed scanners, with the software electronically creating halftone film as an output. As a result the R3 process dropped off a cliff in the 90's; it never came back.

I was unaware of this. Makes sense, I made Ektachrome prints and Cibachrome prints back in the prehistoric times. I remember getting some really nice snappy prints on the last version of the Ektachrome paper from Kodachrome slides.

Poor Tasmanian Wolf.

mshchem · Sep 14, 2024

Type 1993.

DREW WILEY · Sep 14, 2024

Ciba was beautiful, but highly idiosyncratic in terms of color response. It was also expensive and needed supplementary masking. So it caught on like wildfire for display and personal art purposes, but would have been a bad candidate for commercial repro purposes. High end work was formerly done by the even more expensive dye transfer route, which was so malleable that some now look back on it as the Photoshop of past decades. Since much of that was for sake of temporary pre-press purposes, compromises in the dyes were inevitable. But also meant that different dye sets could be substituted, whether for sake of greater longevity, or greater ease of manipulation, or for certain color qualities. Technicolor was analogous in the realm of cinematic applications.

Today's equivalent of Cibachrome is Fujiflex Supergloss - actually an even better product with few if any color foibles. I've discussed it elsewhere.

Mick Fagan · Sep 14, 2024

Thylacine.

Thylacine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Sharktooth · Sep 14, 2024

I've got a couple of R prints hanging on my wall, and they've held up remarkably well. I think I printed them in the 80's, and I know I had to make masks for both of them. I was shooting a lot of Agfachrome 50S back in those days since the Agfa chemicals for that film could be processed at room temperature.

I dabbled a bit with Cibachrome, but it was just too expensive for large prints. The Kodak R papers and chemicals were much cheaper, and I used that for making display size images from transparency film. Although the R prints were probably made in the 80's, they weren't put on display till the early 2000's. I'm actually surprised they still look O.K. after 20 years on display. There's clearly some deterioration, but it's just subtle, not gross.

mshchem · Sep 15, 2024

Mick Fagan said:
Thylacine.

Thylacine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Humans destroy everything. Sad. I remember reading about these poor creatures when I was younger.

John Salim · Sep 15, 2024

To be honest I never saw many 'great looking' R types.
Ciba's could look absolutely fabulous if printed from properly exposed and processed low contrast transparencies.

In my opinion, the most 'natural looking' colour prints from transparencies came via internegatives.

John S

DREW WILEY · Sep 15, 2024

One didn't need low contrast transparencies for Ciba. Supplemental masking handled that, as well as a fair amount of color correction. Commercial internegative film is a thing of the past, and many labs did a poor job of it when it was routine. My own best color prints have come from carefully masked 8X10 chromes contacted onto 8X10 Portra 160 internegatives, then printed onto Fuji Supergloss - the same look as Ciba, but with much more accurate color, and easily RA4 processed. Of course, it can be done with smaller film originals too.

But it's laborious enough that I prioritize the bigger images; and in that case, it's getting darn expensive due to the significantly higher price of color sheet film these days. So I don't expect to make many more of these, and my routine color printing is now mainly directly from color neg originals onto various Fuji RA4 papers, sometimes with masking, often not. The combination of Ektar film and Fuji Supergloss is a marriage made in heaven.

BurntOutElectronics · 2025-09-09T22:18:47-0400

R3 was all but gone by 2005 or so. Cibachrome, it's main competitor of sorts, in 2011 when the ilford switzerland factory closed.
as mentioned, both were pos to pos processes but were totally different in their implementation.
Ciba was most common in its super gloss malinex base but it was also made in other finishes like satin.
RA4 utilises different speed emulsions and a flipped stack with the blue sensitive layer being closest to the base rather than the furthest like in c41, e6 and other chromogenic films and papers.
this is why RA4 is not remotely daylight balanced. it can be corrected with heavy filtration when developed in a reversal process however

What was R3 reversal process

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