Take it easy, Corran. I took you off "ignore" for a reason. You often have valuable insights of your own, so I don't want to circumvent them. But there are still various ways to print chromes which involve no digital intermediary steps whatsoever. The original shot can be interpreted or re-interpreted in many ways. But these all-darkroom routes inherently involve a lot of step-to-step hue and gray scale accuracy calibrations in-between. In terms of maintaining the look of the actual original in reproduced fashion, I've found out how to make very precise internegatives from current color neg sheet films plus precise masking steps. I only do a limited number of these per year because it is involved and costly; but I have the correct equipment and background, and the end result is visibly better detailed and more hue precise than inkjet printing.

I'm also one of those fiddling intermittently with dye transfer printing, which is still feasible; but it seems like every time the needed block of time arrives to get into depth with it, some new lingering family emergency arrives. That's just what happens as one's parents and other extended family members themselves get older and need a lot of attention. Then there are also a number of other alternative color printing pathways if one wants to get involved with the UV side or printing color. Otherwise, for new color work, I've switched completely over to color neg film itself, and making RA4 prints from these is quite simple, with supplemental masking being an optional tool. But bagging a fully cooperative color neg in the first place does require paying attention to color temperature, especially if Ektar is involved, at least if one expects the clean kind of look previously offered only by chrome film.