Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/01/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Ok... here's the dirt on the 20 cent Walgreen's reprints. I did 243 of them over two days (someone actually walked in and did 350 today, they told me). Their machine takes CD, SD/xD, CF, and Smartmedia. I would strongly suggest making a CD of only files you want to print and selecting the print-all function, because the preview software is a real pain in the arse. As in manually scrolling, one frame at a time, through the CD from end to end. The simplest thing to do is to weed first and "print all once." Printing is 300 dpi for 4x6 and 6x8 (don't quote me, but I saw the manual and it said 1205x1595 for 4x6 prints). The Fuji printing unit uses a UV-fixed thermal color printer (that was in the book too). Absolutely no idea how that works, but it doesn't involve ink. In black and white, the prints are good - much better in tonality and sharpness than getting your 135 negs printed on an RA-4 minilab using that chromogenic black and white paper. Prints have something of a brownish sepia tone and look like they are doing at least 32 different shades of grey, more than I can say for the RA-4 paper. No idea what the archival life is - I am using them to make proofs from hundreds of scanned 6x4.5 negs - and I could care less. Problems - occasional streaking (cold heads?); grainy blown out skies can look pretty bad. Holds detail well in highlights and shadows. Definitely not FB paper, but for 20 cents and no mess... well, you can live with it. Print time is about 60 seconds for the first; 10 seconds for each additional. Frontier seems to be a little better, but around here, it's six times the cost per reprint. And there are no Frontier machines available at 11pm. ____________ Dante Stella http://www.dantestella.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html