Charles Cramer presentation and print comparisons

[paul stimac]

I just got back from a presentation given by Charles Cramer in Winnemucca, NV during 'Shooting the West' conference. The highlight for me was that he displayed (side by side) the same image printed several different ways: traditional dye transfer, digital dye transfer, cibachrome, lightjet, epson 9800, and hp 130. For my eyes, the digital dye transfer and the lightjets looked the best with cibachrome and epson 9800 coming in a very close third/fourth. BUT if you didn't have them side by side you'd have a very tough time picking a favorite - they where all very close to each other.

He also had the same bw image printed in a darkroom (selenium toned), next to one made with his Epson 9800 (K3 inks) on the new crane museo silver rag paper, and it was an exact copy as far as my eyes could tell.

He's a good speaker and entire presentation was well done and informative. It only cost $50 for the day. I felt I definitely got my money's worth.

[Bruce Watson]

What prey tell is a digital dye transfer?

[Larry Gebhardt]

I believe Charles Cramer's digital dye transfers are true dye transfer prints made with digital separations on an image setter. I was shown one of his prints made this way and it was suberb. Very sharp, colors were saturated, incredible dmax, and that nice FB glossy surface.

Paul, how did the the hp 130 rank in there?

[Kirk Gittings]

Just curious, were the prints framed under glass?

[neil poulsen]

I know that he's a master at dye-transfer. So, what you were seeing was a comparison with the best possible for that particular image. It's a really interesting comparison.

When I saw his Lightjet images back in 2001, I knew what was possible with digital. That event turned me from being skeptical about digital towards being a protagonist. They were the most gorgeous color photographs that I'd seen to that date.

[paul stimac]

Not under glass.

[Brian Ellis]

"When I saw his Lightjet images back in 2001, I knew what was possible with digital. That event turned me from being skeptical about digital towards being a protagonist"

Similar thing happened to me in 2001 except it was George deWolfe's digital prints I saw that made me realize how good digital prints could be. It isn't so prevalent today as there are more and more good digital printers around but a few years ago I think far too many people formed judgements about digital based on seeing prints by their next door neighbor or someone else who didn't have much of a clue about what they were doing. I was glad to read your thoughts about the value of Cramer's presentation, I've registered for a four day course with him in San Francisco next August.