Is it Possible To Print a Color Transparency on Pictorico Film?

[LFLarry]

A friend of my family was over at our house recently and he knew that I was into photography. He is a younger guy and has only done digital photography.

I showed him some of my large format 4x5 and 8x10 Velvia, Provia, and Ektachrome chromes on my LED light tablet, and his eyes popped out of his head.

It was fun to watch someone who has never seen a large format chrome try to process what they are looking at.

He asked me if it was possible to print a color image on Pictorico transparency film and, if so, if it would look like my large format slides.

I told him I honestly don't know the answer to that, but I would be happy to ask the group here to see what I could find out.

My photography is 100% analog, and I only have a notebook computer for email and research.

If you have any experience or first hand knowledge of trying to print color images on transparency film using a photo printer, I would appreciate your thoughts about that. I can't imagine they could look anything like my large format slides, but I have no idea. He said he has an Epson P 800 printer.

Thank you.

[SergeyT]

It is possible to print.
"How it is going to look printed?" is another question
If you have a color profile for your printer and that medium - give it a try.
If you don't - how would you create a profile , considering that in order to create it one will have to measure a printed target (it will be transparent instead of reflective in case of regular paper)
How are you going to use your printed image ? If looking by naked eyes then it may work. If through a lope on a light table - you will likely see the dots.

[Tin Can]

Since I have 2 14X48" slide viewers, 1 wall mounted

I often use them for display of negs and positives

Bought both for $15 during the Great Purge

He also loaded them in my van as I was on crutches

The better half wanted them GONE

[Alan9940]

I craft B&W digital negatives all the time for pt/pd printing so I see no reason why a color image couldn't be printed on Pictorico film. But, IMO that would be the extent of the exercise. That output is not going to look anything like your original transparencies. I tried printing my digital negatives, once, in the darkroom on silver gelatin paper and it was not a pretty sight.

[Tin Can]

I never shoot LF color Slide

so I just ordered 1 pretty woman in diaphanous attire

8x10 color slide

to see how it looks on my viewer

$8 delivered last 1

soon

[Joshua Dunn]

Larry,

The answer is yes. I have printed a lot of digital negatives for alt process photographers. I profiled Fixxons digital film media, which requires a color test pattern to profile the media. So yes it is possible. It will still need to be illuminated from behind to be viewed. It's easy these days to make a led box to act as a frame and light source. You can also find used x-ray film viewers on evilbay however you won't know the color temperature until you get it. The thing to keep in mind is if you go that route, you may need to edit the digital file in a manner much different an you would to view on a screen or print on a fine art paper. That is because some colors will behave differently based on your light source you are illuminating it with.

-Joshua

[Mal Paso]

Epson Crystal Clear Inkjet proofing film is compatible with ultra chrome ink which is the P800 printer among others. It's designed for overlays so there may be a density issue viewing it as a transparency rather than reflective as intended but it's a place to start. The Epson film print data should be included in the Epson Print Layout which is a free download.

The P800 is several thousand DPI, you can't see dots with a 12x loop.

[jnantz]

Hi Larry…
I’ve been in the midst of doing something similar. Pictorico is too expensive for my blood I think I am going to find regular overhead film that ink can dry on ( like mal paso suggested ) maybe photo warehouse/ultrafine sells it cheeps ? I’ve been making similar imagery with a laser printer ( heat drum like xerox makes archival ) and they look fantastic. Have fun with your project. John

[Joshua Dunn]

John,

Many alt process photographers have switched to Fixxons for their internegatives. Every side by side testing I have seen has almost no difference between the two. It is less expansive than Pictorico.

-Joshua

[Michael Rosenberg]

The issue with the transparency media suggested here is that the image will appear grainy due to the limit of the amount of ink that they can hold.
Let me offer an alternative, simpler exercise.I suggest he print his images on a glossy paper (without water marks, which are often not visible until you look at it on a light table); one paper that I have used for digital negatives for silver gelatin prints is Red River glossy paper. It has a thin base, and if you hold it up to a light, or place it on a light box, you can see through it just like it were a slide, and it holds more ink than the transparency/opaque material making it grainless. The profiles for Epson printers can be downloaded from Red River.
This is explained on my web site (www.mprosenberg.com), where I describe a method for making digital negatives for silver gelatin prints.

Mike