[PRCo] Re: Printing 616 negatives

[John F Bromley]

Next Wednesday or Thursday (we're away until Wed) I'll go to the local shop,
Toronto Black and White, whose name suggests they're specialists and I'll
get a price list.  For Canadian $$ they were quite good last time I asked,
they crop to size specified from area specified and they're good.  RC paper,
take it or pay double, and 24-48 hour service and mail order.  Only if a job
is really tough do they charge extra (give 'em a super dense negative and
expect to pay more).

Locally I ask a friend named Al Paterson to make my 8x10s - he charges $4
(Canadian) and crops wherever I want.  He does the work when he feels like
it.  It's OK for me as I'm never in a hurry.  Be jealous, be very jealous,
as this is not an open photo lab.  Oh, he does NOT use RC paper, and
contrasts are no problem.  Be very, very jealous, as he's not about to take
on the world's printing.

If I was 6 years old instead of 60+ this is probably where I'd say nah nah
de nah nah but I wouldn't stoop that low.

JFB

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Rathke" <brathke at mediaone.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2001 3:42 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Printing 616 negatives


>
> Fred,
>
> I was at the local camera shop today, and asked them your questions.
>
> They asume that their lab (Kodak) makes prints from rolls of paper, since
sheet paper hasn't
> been used by the big labs for years.  They showed me their price book, and
it states that
> they can make any common size print from 35mm, 110, 120, 127, 616, etc.
negatives.  A
> 3-1/2"X5" B&W print from a 616 negative costs 59 cents, and takes about a
week.  This
> compares to 19 cents and 2 days for a 3-1/2"X5" color print made from a
35mm Kodacolor
> negative.  The price book notes that some negative sizes (e.g., 616), when
printed
> full-negative, may not proportion out to the print paper size.  If this is
the case, they
> recommend that the customer specify the next largest paper size, and then
accept one of the
> dimensions not being full paper size.
>
> The camera shop also told me that the lab is set up for daily procesing of
35mm color print
> film, but they process slides and make B&W prints only one day a week.
So, depending on
> which day of the week you drop off your slide film or B&W negatives, they
could be returned
> to you anywhere from 2-10 days.
>
> And current "paper" causes another problem (in addition to the lack of
contrast and
> brightness adjustments): the "paper" is not paper, and so my "Photo by"
ink stamp smudges on
> the slick paper, and never really dries.  My solution is to use "Indexing"
ink which is the
> ink used to imprint product information on plastic containers.  However,
because Indexing
> ink dries so rapidly, you have to re-ink the pad every couple of minutes.
And if you get
> any of this ink on your fingers, it takes three days of washing to get it
off.  I use this
> stamp on my PRC photos (just wanted to get this e-mail on topic).
>
> There is also a custom lab near my office, and they offer to make
contrast, brightness and
> color corrections, but they charge double for this service.  They print
from any size
> negative, but they make only 8"X10" and larger prints.  The last time I
checked, a standard
> 8"X10" print (B&W or color) was about $7, and with custom corrections it
was around $15.
> They may use sheet paper at this lab.
>
> Bob 8/4/01
>
>
>
>
>
> "Fred W. Schneider III" wrote:
>
> > Bob:
> >
> > Are the Qualex black and white prints machine made or hand made?  The
> > machines print onto rolls of paper (3 1/2 inches wide, 5 inches wide or
> > 8 inches wide and permit not printing controls, i.e. dodging (holding
> > back certain parts of the negative) or burning (darkening an area in
> > relation to the rest).  Of course, hand made prints with an enlarger
> > allow all sorts of controls, not just those I mentioned but even masking
> > (you could sandwich the negative with a separate piece of film stock on
> > which red dye has been placed to lighten certain small details).  This
> > is a technique I've used to lighten trucks under cars.
> >
> > Fred
> >
> > Bob Rathke wrote:
> > >
> > > I continue to get B&W prints made from 616, 120, 4X5" and other large
format negatives
> > > through a camera store here.  They send them to the Qualex (Kodak)
Custom Lab. I know
> > > of several stores in the Chicago suburbs that use the Qualex lab.  It
takes about 10
> > > days, and the B&W prints cost more than comparable size Kodacolor
prints, but the
> > > results are good.
> > >
> > > Bob 8/2/01
> > >
> > > --------------------------------
> > >
> > > "Fred W. Schneider III" wrote:
> > >
> > > > He used to trade prints with scads of people.  Unfortunately, A)
there
> > > > is no longer a camera store in Pittston; B) Kodak no longer makes
> > > > contact papers for 616 size negatives, 3) Kodak no longer makes any
> > > > contact papers except in a very limited number of contrast grades (2
and
> > > > 3 or 2, 3 and 4) -- the very high contrast and low contrast papers
have
> > > > joined the dinosaurs; C) Non one has made 616 and 116 film for
thirty
> > > > years, and other tools that went with it, such as negative carriers
for
> > > > enlargers and printing machines are no longer manufactured.  This
simply
> > > > means that you cannot take a 616 negative to your local camera store
and
> > > > even get it printed any longer And people like myself who can handle
> > > > them are getting older and more tired.
>
>