Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/06/07

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Prints from slides
From: "David W. Almy" <dalmy@mindspring.com>
Date: Sun, 07 Jun 1998 10:07:30 -0400

All,

I have more recent experience with prints from slides than I expected to
have, and will post the gory details next Thursday, but for now...

Have been making large enlargements using drum scans and the Durst
Lambda digital process from Leica chromes. We're talkin large prints
(five were 4x6 feet!).

Lambda digital prints significantly soften the grain visible on
comparable interneg/optically-produced prints. This is always good.

Everything depends on the quality of the scan. A junkie scan yields a
junkie image.

None of 18 large prints I made match the sharpness of the original slide
when projected with my handy Leica projector. 

The optically-made enlargements introduce a second optical system into
the reproduction process, with the prints subsequently limited to its
quality. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

We made same-size tests (for $1,200!) to compare the interneg/optical
prints and Lambda prints before reaching these conclusions.

My two cents.

David W. Almy
Annapolis, Maryland