Making Large Format Negatives from Digital Images

[wclark5179]

Thought this might be of interest.

http://www.ppmag.com/web-exclusives/...nt-digneg.html

[Corran]

Does one have to use a $3,000 printer to do this? Or are there more budget-friendly printers that can handle this material? I have been curious about this process lately.

[wclark5179]

I haven't tried it but I would get some of the clear material and see what happens with your printer.

Does this material need special inks?

Have a wonderful weekend.

[Corran]

I don't even own a printer so that's why I'm wondering what might be a low-budget printer that this works with...

[sanking]

You can make digital negatives with virtually all Epson photo printers. Some of the not so expensive ones with 1.5 or 2 picoliter drop size (1400, R1800, 1900, etc.) may in fact be better for making digital negatives than more expensive models because they give very fine grain.

Sandy

[Michael Cienfuegos]

I was able to make some nice 5x7 digital negatives with my HP Photosmart 3210 printer. Not the greatest, but I wanted some cyanotype images and was quite pleased with the outcome. Having said this, the printer is pretty much a POS, the feed mechanism doesn't work properly, I am looking to get an Epson printer in the near future.

[Ron McElroy]

Since HP is marketing their printers for this purpose, I hope they provide some technical support to people using them for digital negatives.

[Jan Pedersen]

HP and technical support?

[Joe O'Hara]

Does one have to use a $3,000 printer to do this? Or are there more budget-friendly printers that can handle this material? I have been curious about this process lately.

This is a fairly well-known method for making prints using "alternative" (non-silver) processes, such as Pt/Pd or carbon. It can be done with a relatively inexpensive printer like an Epson 3800 or such. The "trick" is in the curve you put on the image to get it to work with the printer and end process, and there are resources on the net about that if you would like to pursue it.

I've done both Pt/Pd and carbon using this technique, but not silver. I haven't looked at those prints with a loupe, but it is easy to see the dots on any inkjet print at 6x magnification and I assume the same would be the case on silver prints made using a digital negative on glossy paper, although perhaps not with matte or uncoated paper. Whether that matters in a practical viewing experience is a different story of course.

The great merit of digital negatives is that you can make large images using printing-out or other processes that are too slow for an enlarger--where you need to contact print--from cameras of reasonable (YMMV) size.

Cheers
Joe

[sully75]

Re: HP - after 6 HPB9180 printers I'd never buy another thing from them, ever.