Is color printing easy?

"Nick Zentena" <zentena RemoveThis @stout.hophead.dyndns.org> wrote in message
news:5s1th2-dqt.ln1@barley.site...
 > narke <steven RemoveThis @lczmsoft.com> wrote:
  > > I'm currently considering buy a enlarger mainly for B&W work. I am not
  > > very sure whether I should buy a enlarger which can do color printing
  > > also. so, if color printing is not so hard than B&W, i may like to buy
  > > a enlarger which can also do color, if the answer is not, i will save
  > > money and buy a dedicated B&W enlarger.
 >
 >
 > Colour IMHO is easier then B&W. Hand a B&W negative to ten good printers
 > and they'll give you ten good but different prints. OTOH hand a colour
 > negative and the results will likely be a lot more similar. If you're
buying
 > used and in today's market you should then colour enlargers aren't any
more
 > money then straight B&W models. Some times they sell for less because
people
 > think they don't want a colour model.
 >
 > Nick

Color printing is much easier than BW -- in color the processes go to
completion. Getting the color balance is not that difficult -- generally
for one batch of negative film the balance is going to be the same.
Difficult negatives can always be worked over in Photoshop.

I purchased a used Durst Printo about 12 years ago -- it makes the job a
snap.

Quite frankly, however, BW printing is more satisfying.

J<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Is color printing easy? 

From: "narke" <ste... DeleteThis @lczmsoft.com> wrote:

 > I'm currently considering buy a enlarger mainly for B&W work.
 > I am not very sure whether I should buy a enlarger which can
 > do color printing also. so, if color printing is not so hard
 > than B&W, i may like to buy a enlarger which can also do color,
 > if the answer is not, i will save money and buy a dedicated
 > B&W enlarger.

An enlarger with a dichroic head is useful and
convenient for variable contrast black and white
printing.

I find colour negative prints to be a bit finicky,
but if you can print black and white, you can print
colour too. The main issue is the very high speed
of colour paper - I use Fuji Crystal Archive, the same
stuff the minilabs use. I bought both my enlargers
used, and bought a Jobo CPE-2 processor on EBay.

Colour transparency prints (Ilfochrome) are obscenely
expensive but easy to get right. They are very nearly
idiot-proof.

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre
Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..."
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Is color printing easy? 

In article <1112256794.822995.265370 DeleteThis @g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
narke <steven DeleteThis @lczmsoft.com> wrote:
 >I'm currently considering buy a enlarger mainly for B&W work. I am not
 >very sure whether I should buy a enlarger which can do color printing
 >also. so, if color printing is not so hard than B&W, i may like to buy
 >a enlarger which can also do color, if the answer is not, i will save
 >money and buy a dedicated B&W enlarger.

Color printing is relatively easy. The hard part is getting the color
balance right, which requires experience in recognizing how color
casts correspond to corrections in filter settings.

If the goal is to get good color prints, then digital (scanning plus
printing on a frontier) provides far more creative control.

If the goal is to have some fun in the darkroom, then color printing is
not ideal either because the actual exposure has to be in the dark and
the rest of the process is drum based.


--
That was it. Done. The faulty Monk was turned out into the desert where it
could believe what it liked, including the idea that it had been hard done
by. It was allowed to keep its horse, since horses were so cheap to make.
  -- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Is color printing easy? 

Nick Zentena wrote:
....
 > Colour IMHO is easier then B&W. Hand a B&W negative to ten good printers
 > and they'll give you ten good but different prints. OTOH hand a colour
 > negative and the results will likely be a lot more similar. If you're buying
....
That does not mean it is easier at all. What it does mean is that with
b&w, printing plays a larger part of the artistic process.

Steve<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Is color printing easy? 

Steven Kefford <""keff.antispam\"@ f2s.com"> wrote:
 > Nick Zentena wrote:
 > ...
  >> Colour IMHO is easier then B&W. Hand a B&W negative to ten good printers
  >> and they'll give you ten good but different prints. OTOH hand a colour
  >> negative and the results will likely be a lot more similar. If you're buying
 > ...
 > That does not mean it is easier at all. What it does mean is that with
 > b&w, printing plays a larger part of the artistic process.


Which is harder then the purely mechanical process that colour printing is.

Nick<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Is color printing easy? 

this post is not archived.
 >> Stay informed about: Is color printing easy? 

laura halliday wrote:

 > Colour transparency prints (Ilfochrome) are obscenely
 > expensive but easy to get right. They are very nearly
 > idiot-proof.


I must be one helluvan idiot then, because I have a few Ilfos that i
cant get right no matter what i do.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Is color printing easy? 

For color printer, some people mentioned dichroic head, some people
mentioned color filters. I can understand color filters, and deduced
from your articles, I believe that color filters in a color printer can
yield better result than filters for a b&w printer. but, for the
dichroic head, i have no any ideal, what is it?

-
narke
 >> Stay informed about: Is color printing easy? 

narke wrote:
 > For color printer, some people mentioned dichroic head, some people
 > mentioned color filters. I can understand color filters, and deduced
 > from your articles, I believe that color filters in a color printer
can
 > yield better result than filters for a b&w printer. but, for the
 > dichroic head, i have no any ideal, what is it?
 >
 > -
 > narke

The dichroic head has built in, integral filters. The plastic ones that
someone referred to are small sheets that are placd by hand into a
drawer in the enlarger. Want 10 Y filtration? Throw in the 10 Y filter.
Want 5 Y? take it back out and put in the 5. On a dichro you just spin
a dial. And you can use it for B&W variable contrast printing too.

Having color printed for years on a B&W enlarger using plastic color
printing filters, I can say that I MUCH prefer my dichroic head. But
use whatever you can afford. It isnt that hard to use the plastic ones
if thats all you can get.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Is color printing easy? 

"narke" <steven RemoveThis @lczmsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1112256794.822995.265370@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
 > I'm currently considering buy a enlarger mainly for B&W work. I am not
 > very sure whether I should buy a enlarger which can do color printing
 > also. so, if color printing is not so hard than B&W, i may like to buy
 > a enlarger which can also do color, if the answer is not, i will save
 > money and buy a dedicated B&W enlarger.
 >
 > any suggestion is welcome.

Color printing is not difficult, especially if you have some sort of
automated processor. A drum type processor is probably cheaper and easier to
maintain, a roller transport type is probably easier to use and faster (my
opinion, YMMV)

In B&W, you make a test print to determine exposure. You make a judgement on
contrast (and perhaps another test print), then you make your final print.

In color (negative) printing, you make the same test print to determine
exposure. Then, using a _correctly_exposed_ test print, you make a judgement
on color balance, preferably with a set of viewing filters. You adjust the
filtration and make a test print to determine the new exposure.
There are two keys to color printing: (1) Always make your color balance
judgement with a correct density (darkness/lightness) print. Do not attempt
to color balance a print that is too dark or too light. (2) Write stuff
down! On each test print I make, I write (Sharpie brand marker) what
exposure(s) and filtration I used for that print. I also write the
exposure/filtration I plan to go to; IE: "Y60 M40 f/8 0:15--> Y65 M50 f/8
0:20" If I screw up the filter pack or exposure, I can go back thru test
print(s) until I find the best one and start over from there.

Ken Hart<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Is color printing easy? 

In article <1112317466.108717.206300.TakeThisOut@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
"narke" <steven.TakeThisOut@lczmsoft.com> wrote:

 > but, for the
 > dichroic head, i have no any ideal, what is it?
 >
 > -
 > narke

They are lamphouses within a mechanical
filter set that you adjust the amount of
filtration in the light by turning a knob.

Makes life a lot more simple and eliminates
the dust and scratches that could be present on
plastic filters.

--
LF Website @ <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://members.verizon.net/~gregoryblank" target="_blank">http://members.verizon.net/~gregoryblank</a>

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong,
is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable
to the American public."--Theodore Roosevelt, May 7, 1918<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Is color printing easy? 

laura halliday wrote:

 >
 > Colour transparency prints (Ilfochrome) are obscenely
 > expensive but easy to get right. They are very nearly
 > idiot-proof.

I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you mean
it is easy to get satisfactory results with Ilfochrome. I would agree
with that, and wouldnt want to discourage anyone from trying because it
isnt a difficult process. But it does take time to master it-or so I've
heard, because I havent done so despite having done quite a bit.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Is color printing easy? 

Wayne wrote:

 > Having color printed for years on a B&W enlarger using plastic color
printing filters, I can say that I MUCH prefer my dichroic head. But
use whatever you can afford. It isnt that hard to use the plastic ones
if thats all you can get.

Did you mean a B&W enlarger can do color printing if insert some color
filters into the drawer?

-
narke<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Is color printing easy?