Equipment for digital printing

[Chris Richards]

I've become allergic to darkroom chemicals. I want to continue using film (4 x 5), but I will need to transfer to digital printing. I don't know anything at all about this, and I would be grateful to forum members if they can help me with the learning process: I need to know what equipment is necessary and recommended. I only work in black and white. Thank you for your help!

[ataim]

Give Ken Lee's web page a look, lots of information there. http://www.kenleegallery.com/html/tech/index.php

[Bruce Watson]

Mastering Digital Black and White (http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Digital-Black-Black-White/dp/1598633759), and Digital Photography Fine Print Workshop (http://www.amazon.com/George-DeWolfes-Digital-Photography-Workshop/dp/0072260874/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372346580&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=george+dewoldfe) are two books I can recommend. There are countless others.

[paulr]

Technically you've probably become sensitized, not allergic. It would be helpful if you could figure out what chemical or chemicals you've been sensitized to. You might be able to eliminate those, or if not, use extra protective measures just at the times when you have to handle them.

I have a friend who's highly sensitive to something in the darkroom. She worked in an unventilated darkroom in college, and one day woke up on the floor after doing god knows what (selenium toning maybe?) Since then many darkroom fumes are intolerable to her. She's still committed to darkroom work, but uses an industrial facemask with organic vabor cartridges, and elbow-length gloves. For good measure she has serious ventilation in her darkroom too.

I don't know if she ever pinpointed the chemical that she reacts to. I understand why she might not want to do the necessary experiments to find out.

[Lenny Eiger]

Scanner, Computer, Printer. It's pretty simply once you get the hang of it... There are a lot of choices depending on budget and the level of quality you are interested in.

Lenny

[Light Guru]

Scanner, Computer, Printer. It's pretty simply once you get the hang of it... There are a lot of choices depending on budget and the level of quality you are interested in.

Your also going to need monitor and printer calibration equipment.

[paulr]

Your also going to need monitor and printer calibration equipment.

Yeah, don't unerestimate the value of a good monitor and the means to calibrate it. I'd stop short of calling them essential, because I've made some of my best prints with a crappy monito. But the wasted effort and materials were a burden.

I also recommend some good learning resources for your software. the Real World Photoshop series was invaluable to me. I'd been using photoshop for design work for a decade when I started digital printing, but I didn't know how to best use it for serious photography. The books helped me figure out better workflows, both for efficiency and image quality.

[paulr]

Also ... since you say you only work in b+w, you have some choices.

Using the Quadtone RIP software (shareware) with standard epson inks gives quality better than the epson driver, and much better control.

If you don't need to change up your print color, you can get even better results with a monchrome inkset like Piezography.

The ultimate setup works with certain pro printers and custom rips. You can work out a system that gives you control over print color with Piezography by combining two inksets. I wouldn't consider this until you've gotten the hang of a simpler setup.

[Otto Seaman]

An Epson R3000 printer and Epson V700 scanner are good starting points even if you aspire to higher end gear... What you learn with these will apply to the best/largest/$$$ equipment. An R3000 will make an excellent quality 13x19 color or B&W print.

Budget for Photoshop, Harrington Quadtone RIP, Spyder 4 calibrator (or similar), decent computer, good monitor, lots of RAM and back-up hard drives, Wacom tablet....

Sounds like a lot but you can do it all for about $3500 if you do your homework. That's what I did and it's more than satisfactory for galleries and print sales.

[Tyler Boley]

The equipment suggestions have been fine, but I'd suggest budgeting for some classes or workshops. There's a learning curve at each step here, particularly if totally new to these processes. Scanning alone can take time to learn, image editing with photoshop or other software is a big hurtle, then add printing...
Stepping into this with no help, I can assure you the frustrations will be many, instruction would be great.
Tyler