Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/03/03

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Anyone want to help me spend some money on a digital darkroom?
From: "David Rodgers" <davrodgers@msn.com>
Date: Wed, 03 Mar 2004 16:18:13 -0800

Aaron,

I was sold on a  Nikon Coolscan V. Went to buy one. They were out of stock. 
Took a look at a new little Minolta ($300). Out of stock, too, except for a 
demo unit. The Minolta is 3200 dpi res and 16 bit. The Coolscan V is only 14 
bit. Tried out a slide of mine on both demo units. I couldn't see any 
difference. Granted a computer screen can only reveal so much. But I'm 
thinking that if I can live with 3200 DPI, the Minolta is a serious 
contender.

I'm postponing any printer pruchase. I decided I'll use my older inkjet for 
proofs, and look into mini labs for real prints. There are 6 mini-labs with 
Frontier 370s  or 2000 series Noritsu's near where I live. Dry Creek Photo 
has color profiles available free and a number of labs listed nationally. In 
theory a person can completely control their output, i.e. do all the color 
profiling, sharpening, sizing, etc. and tell the lab not to do anything to 
the file. Just print it as is.

Here are the differences I found between Noritsu 2000 series and Frontier 
370: Noritsu 2000 series print 400 dpi up to 12x18 inches. Frontier 370r 
print 300 dpi up to 10x15 inches. Paper makes a big difference. Fuji Crystal 
Archive is my preference, though I'm looking into a lab that uses Kodak 
Portra papers, for portrait prints. Some labs accept uploaded files, which 
they'll print for later pickup. There are other options.  Costco can print 
up to 20x24 on canvas, which I assume they send out. A friend of mine had 
one printed and it looked fantastic. The cost was one-third what his pro lab 
charged.

Just some options to consider. You can always buy a 2200 anytime in the 
future. At least until something better comes out.

DaveR

Aaron Sandler wrote:

>
>Total Budget: $2200.
>

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