Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/04/11

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Why are professional labs unwilling to do pigment dye transfer and Cibachrome?
From: "Tim Atherton" <tim@KairosPhoto.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 09:49:59 -0600

I believe that they stopped making dye transfer materials a few years ago,
so that's put the kybosh on that...

Cibachrome has been Ilfochrome for years now. It was always a more
specialised process than normal colour processing with fewer labs
specialising in it or doing it well. And there are still a number of labs
doing Ilfochrome - finding someone who does it well is (and always was) the
hard part. Fellow Yellowknife lugger John Poirier is one of the best
Ciba/Ilfochrome printers I come across - though he told me he was thinking
of getting rid of his Cibachrome processor (though he may have changed his
mind...)

Fuji Crystal Archive seems the standard now in long lasting colour prints.
(though all colour materials are more difficult to keep than say gelatin
silver). By all accounts a Fuji Crystal light jet from a good quality (drum)
scan will knock the socks of many Ilfochromes. I've only had some done from
4x5 colour print film (and my own home scan to boot) - but a comparison
30x24 Lightjet to 30x24 custom pro traditional print showed me the Lightjet
won hands down - if I had gone to a drum scan, it would have been
incredible. This is where I am going to get my next set of exhibition scans
made www.westcoastimaging.com  - great people. I may get the prints done
there to, but it's easier to send a scan and neg back across the border than
a 4' print! There are good Lightjet printers in Canada, but I haven't found
an equally good drum scanner (not at a comparable price anyway).

tim a

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Albert Wang
> Sent: April 11, 2002 9:08 AM
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: [Leica] Why are professional labs unwilling to do pigment dye
> transfer and Cibachrome?
>
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I called up a few professional labs in the Philadelphia area to check out
> their options on color printing and found out there was no one who does
> either Pigment Dye Transfer or Cibachrome processing anymore. My
> question is
> why are these standard color processing technique dying out all over? Why
> has digital methods taken over? Can a digitally colored print approximate
> the quality of the pigment dye transfer or Cibachrome prints?
> Personally my
> gut feelings is that they are not.
>
> I doubt that most standard color processing can be as archival as Pigment
> Dye Transfer or Cibachrome but printing on Duraflex seems to be
> fairly close
> in today's world.
>
> Alfie
>
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