Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/06

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Debate on traditional vs. digital printing
From: Nathan Wajsman <nathan.wajsman@euronet.be>
Date: Sat, 06 Feb 1999 21:08:58 +0100

Hi Pascal,

My opinion is that IF you are a skilled printer AND IF you have sufficient
time
then your traditional darkroom prints will be better than digital prints.
For me this
is not the case, i.e. I make better prints now on my Epson Photo 700 than I
did
in the wet darkroom.

Another part of the decision should be what you already have...since you
have
one of the best scanners around, I would suggest that you buy a good inkjet

printer like the Epson (only around 15.000 BEF) and see how you like it.

As for cost effectiveness, I think it depends on how many test prints you
need
to make in the wet darkroom. For B&W, the traditional darkroom is probably
cheaper, for colour digital (because colour papers and chemistry are much
more
expensive). As an example of digital costs, I use Epson Photo Paper which
costs
around 450 BEF for a package of 20 A4 sheets. The cartridges for the
printer are
about 1000 BEF and will give you maybe 40-50 prints at the highest
resolution.
This works out to about 45 BEF per A4 print. The cost is the same for B&W
as for
colour, since you need to use the colour inks to make a B&W print.

Kind regards,

Nathan



Pascal wrote:

> Friends:
>
> With this very interesting discussion over the past week on enlargers &
> lenses, I was wondering what the relative merits of traditional vs.
> digital printing are.
> Is it still worth it to start with an own darkroom or would it be wiser
> to invest in a printer with decent color quality?
> Would the quality of the final printed image (up to 20x30 cm
> enlargements) be "better" with one or the other system or is there not
> much difference?
> Which system is more cost-effective?
>
> I am asking this because I am seriously contemplating to start printing
> pictures (at least duplicates and enlargements) myself.
>
> I already have a Mac with Nikon Super Coolscan LS-2000 filmscanner, but
> no color printer.
> What are the decisive factors when having to choose between traditional
> or digital?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Pascal
> NO ARCHIVE
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
> See my photo pages at http://members.xoom.com/cyberplace/
> -------------------------------------------------------
> Leica. Faszination durch Präzision
> Leica. Fascination and Precision
> -------------------------------------------------------
> <<< PGP public key available on request >>>



- --
Nathan Wajsman
Overijse, Belgium

Photography page:  http://members.tripod.com/~belgiangator/index.html
Motorcycle page:  http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/downs/1704/index.html