I've had several Chromira prints made over the years. I've never heard
of them described as "silver halide" prints, but after a little googling
that seems to be what they are being called these days. Basically, the
Chromira uses LEDs to project the digital image onto traditional color
photo paper and then develops the paper. The local lab that I use prints
on Fuji Crystal Archive paper, a very nice luster / pearl finish paper.
Over the years they've pulled a few dozen prints for me, for prints
larger than the 17 x 36 that I can do on my Epson 3880. IIRC, they use
rolls of paper that are 36 inches wide, so 36 inches is the maximum size
of the smaller dimension of the print.
The quality of the prints that I have had done is excellent, and
personally I have not seen anything to quibble about. The way I work it
with the lab is that I bring them an 8x10 printed on Epson Premium
Lustre Photo paper and ask for an 8x10 proof that matches it. I use the
PLPP because it has a similar finish to the Fuji crystal archive.
Inevitably, the proof I get is spot on, but I don't know if that is an
out of the printer first time proof or if the owner of the lab is
testing and tweaking till he gets the match. At any rate, the prints
I've gotten have been great. Back in 2005 the lab asked to use some of
my photos as sample prints and a couple 20x30 prints - one color and one
B&W - are still on the wall and show no signs of fading or color shifts.
One image that I had did display some degree of metamerism and took on a
slightly magenta tone under florescent lights - very subtle - while it
looked beautifully neutral in daylight and tungsten light. My friend who
runs the lab offered to replace it, saying that there should be no color
shift. I have not seen any color shifts in other mono prints, but I
usually tone the prints slightly warm or cool. The print that display
the slight metamerism was one where I did no toning.
I usually use the Chromira for 6x7 scans. A 4000 dpi 6x7 scan works out
to just over 36 x 28 inches at 300 dpi. Been thinking about printing a
couple of the noontide images big via this process.
Hope this helps -
Mark
On 9/22/2015 6:30 PM, Darren Addy wrote:
While looking for cheap 8x10 prints for my employer I tripped across
sharpprints.com. Their prices of $14.95 for 24 x 36 prints sort of
knocked my socks off. Looking into it a bit further they use a
Chromira Pro Lab silver halide printer. Googling that led me to this
discussion of how they are softer than traditional inkjet prints:
http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=69349.0
(although it is possible that the technology has improved since that
discussion).
Just curious if anyone has any opinions/experience with Silver Halide prints.
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