[Leica] Beauty of the digital darkroom

[drodgers@nextlink.com]

Mark

>>I'm equipped with an LS-2000, an Epson Stylus 1200, and I am making color
and B&W prints that are far better than anything I've ever done in soup.
They are 100s of times better than the 4 x 6 prints I get from the local
drugstore.<<

I used every rationale I could think of to stay away from digital. But I
finally had to face the facts. When it comes to certain things (and more
things each day) digital beats the heck out of the darkroom. Biggest issue
for me has been convenience and turn around time.

I travel a lot for work. I shoot lots of film on the road. Probably average
4 rolls a week of just travel stuff. Previously, by the time I got around
to processing my backlog was so large I was overwhelmed. I never had enough
time to view all the sides. 4X6 proof prints didn't cut it. I have a
darkroom in my home, but it's primarily for b/w. Could take weeks before I
had time to go to the rental lab to print color.

Now I take a laptop and my Coolscan III on the road. I can shoot a roll of
film in the morning or evening. I can have a local lab run the film through
C-41 . I can scan it in my Hotel room and view the results that night.
Develop only and scanning is less expensive than having proofs printed.

I've learned a great deal about imaging for viewing on a CRT (and lets face
it, like it or not that's a big part of photography now and in the years to
come).

The immediate feedback, and the ability to play with images in Photoshop,
has been extremely educational. It's exciting. I don't have a printer yet
but I will soon. Still researching which one to get.

Dave