Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/11/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Daniel, Interesting experiences. I have been printing in my own darkrooms since I was 10 and, I guess, I just have grown to like it. That's over 50 years ago. A few years ago I got very excited about digital and bought first an HP 7960 for B&W prints. It produces very nice prints, but I wasn't satisfied with them. So I got an Epson C86 and put the MIS inks in it and printed on Hahnem?hle Photo Rag paper -- very nice, and archival, but it didn't look much like an airdried fiberbase print. I also put MIS inks in my Epson 1280 (which I have used for 3 years now for large color prints, which I am quite happy with) and printed on Ilford Pearl paper. I like that result too, but again, it doesn't look like an FB print, which is what I want. So, my experience has been very specific. I like what I get in the darkroom, and I haven't been able to get that from any of the printers I have tried. I also find that I can make wet prints faster and for less money, but that is beside the point. Your experience is, obviously, different. My experience may change tomorrow if I try and like the Permajet Portrait Classic you recommend. Bob > On 11/9/05, Robert Meier <robertmeier@usjet.net> wrote: >> BD, >> >> Better means, of course, prints that I prefer. They are subjectively >> better. > > You're lucky, Bob. Back in the 70'ies and 80'ies I prided myself on > being a good printer. > > I set up a darkroom, a standing darkroom in a bombshelter, a few years > ago. For the life of me I cannot produce a print that I think is > better than what I can print through Photoshop on a $40 Epson printer > (C86 with carbon inks). So I gave up. The boys use the darkroom now > for their poker nights. > > I probably could, with a lot of effort, make a print that is as good, > in my eyes, as the digital prints, but the time involved is not worth > it. I print scads of prints all the time. I love to have stacks of > prints under the couch, on the night stand, strewn around to browse > through and study. I'm my worse critic. > > It just would not be practical, for me, to do that in a wet darkroom. > I'm too sociable. I like being with people. > > But I can admire the excellent prints that others do in the darkroom. > I see it every time on the LUG print-exchange group. > >> I am interested in how they look to >> me, and glossy fiberbase prints, airdried, have a look that I just love, >> and >> I have never produced, nor seen, an inkjet print that has anything like >> that >> look. > > Bob, Permajet Portrait Classic can go a long way towards matching > those fiberbased prints. > > Daniel > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >