Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Alan - Well....We will have to agree to disagree, which is the nature of the LUG - But...1 - I would guess my quality standards for a project of this nature are lower than yours; 2 - The day I get dust free, perfectly color balanced - particularly when taken indoors with a mix of natural and artificial light - prints from any mini-lab is the day I'll worry about whether the color balance is "perfect" on the digital prints. But removing dust, etc., has turned out to be one of the easiest, best features of the digital process. Bottom line - I won't argue with anyone that if you seek print perfection, a wet darkroom - not mini-lab - and a skilled printer are definitely the way to go. But I am convinced that for those of us with neither the skill, nor the money to buy it on any but an occasional basis, a total investment of about $650 -including software - provides a digital home "darkroom" that can sit in a den or home office, be used during work downtime - or any other time - without all kinds of preparation, and provide extremely pleasing results that will blow the socks off the vast majority of non-photographers and casual photographers... Cheers....and congrats on having found a really good mini-lab! :-) B. D. - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Alan Ball Sent: Thursday, February 11, 1999 1:50 AM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: Re: [Leica] can't beat the minilab B. D. Colen wrote: > Or, assuming a mini-lab that really provides one-hour service.....leave > hospital, drop film, pick up 30 minutes later for $2.50 @ - $5.00 > View negs on scanner, scan those to print...10?...45 > minutes....tops...cost...zip... B.D., How long does it take to view negs on scanner ? Thumbnails will NOT tell you if the pic is as sharp as you wish. You'll have to confirm this through loupe and light table. As to scanning time, my sh**** CanoScan will in theory be capable of those 45', but I know it is usually much slower, depending on the chosen resolution, the possible dust specks and if you tweak scanning settings or not before each final scan. There is a major productivity difference here between professional scanners and SOHO scanners. > total time to play with and print 10 reasonably good negs...2 hours > tops...cost...$5.00 worth of paper You are counting 12 minutes per print. That seems reasonable as long as you do not spend too much effort tweaking the d*** Photoshop balance settings, basing your decisions on the d*** uncalibrated monitor before discovering that your d**** inkjet printer and its inks have a sensitivity of their own. I KNOW there are supposed to be tools to standardize the curves through the process. But I also KNOW those tools have little love for SOHO devices. > Pop in albums...10 minutes...tops.... If the prints are dry, otherwise watch the smears on the plastic sleeves... > Total time...4 hours....and that's assuming problems with the prints... > Total cost...$10 plus film and album cost... You might be able to get down to 4 hours, but I do not think this would be a repeatable duration for the process. During those 4 hours, you are not working on other things: these are leisure time hours. While the minilab does its job, you are still in a position to earn money. Finally, you have had to pay for a higher end PC, graphic card, monitor, scanner and printer. > And unless you're doing a bunch of 8x10s or larger, I'd match the digital > prints against the mini-lab 4x6s.... Nope, but I know we disagree on the inkjet quality appreciation. Plus you can order larger size minilab prints if you wish so. The glossy prints I got back yesterday were PERFECTLY processed by the minilab: no scratches, no specks, perfect balance, totally up to the standards of any professional high end lab I have ever tried. > And, all of the minilab calculations > assume that - a) they're not backed up and can really get you your negs and > prints in an hour...b) that the machines are working right on the given > day..c) that the right tech is on duty so that you get decent prints.... That is true. That is why it is important to use well equipped minilabs with competent clerks. They exist. > The bottom line is...the digital route is markedly less expensive, and, on > average, just as good for producing an album of 4x6 prints...and the digital > route lets you prints those 4x6s on 8x10 paper, which looks very nice > indeed... Nope, same disagreement as earlier. AND do not forget that in the story I relayed, you would not have been able to deliver the digital prints to the mums within the same time frame. Unless of course you do not work for a living and if the clinic allows visits after 8pm. ;-) > SO - Conventional film - Leica optics - conventional film processing - > digital scanning and printing...the way of the next 50 years...(right Jim > B?) Nope. Just a decent fumeless solution to tweak color prints at home on Sundays. ;-) Of course, this whole logic only applies to color prints: b/w users manage a totally different set of parameters... Alan