Tony:

This post isn't about sex, so don't worry.;o)))

I have been using Photoshop since version 3.05. Still I use it for very specific technical reasons. While I know it well, I am on a steep learning curve with photographs.

I have started to build a system to do printing on a computer. With more than a decade of experience doing this stuff, I knew to avoid Pentium based machines. That makes it expensive. With just the CPU and moniter and 1.5 g of memory, I am looking back, way back, at $5,000 [makes an M6 look cheap]. The printer is on order and I am looking at scanners.

Someone here suggested flatbeds as a cheap option. I happened to have a HP 6300, with a transparency adapter, sitting around unused. I gave it a try. Worked ok from 35 mm to 4 x 5. With one days experience and an old HP 840C, I got some reasonable prints.I compared them to some 8x 10, contact, platinum prints I did a few years back. Nothing close in quality, but I am on my way.

How are you doing this?

Art

-- Art (AKarr90975@aol.com), February 03, 2002

Answers

Scanner: Nikon IV ED Minimum printing resolution = 200 dpi, nominal resolution = 220 dpi Prints larger than 8.5 x 11 ~ pay someone else to print them.

-- John (ouroboros_2001@yahoo.com), February 03, 2002.

John:

Today, I was printing at 1200 dpi. I intend to go up. I also intend to make my own decisions about content. Hence, I does it meself. ;o)))

Art

-- Art (AKarr90975@aol.com), February 03, 2002.

Polaroid Sprintscan 45, Epson Stylus Photo (original model). Both hooked up to my computer (Pentium I 233mhz w. 256meg of memory) with a thick patina of dust on both. Shoot chrome, have a great relationship with a local pro lab. They know what I want and give it to me. I don't ask, don't care how. I drop off my film and go back outdoors to shoot, because for me that's what photography is about. If I have to print it myself I'll quit first.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), February 03, 2002.

Today, I was printing at 1200 dpi. I intend to go up. I also intend to make my own decisions about content. Hence, I does it meself. ;o)))

I don't follow the logic for printing @ 1200 dpi. 300 dpi is already photoquality, 200 dpi is acceptable photoquality. In terms of controlling the content you are better off printing at the lower resolutions as you have more cropping options. Also, most photolabs that have lineprinters charge $10 per square foot. For a 16 x 20 (1.3X1.6)~2.1 ft*ft that would be $21 dollars. Much more cost effective than buying a line printer.

;-)

-- John (ouroboros_2001@yahoo.com), February 03, 2002.

John:

I be a software geek. You would be suprised what the numbers don't mean. ;o)))

Art

-- Art (AKarr90975@aol.com), February 03, 2002.

This past fall I built a desktop publishing/digital darkroom system, and your buget numbers really seem out of wack or else I don't understand them. Here's my starter system: P4 1.7, 850MVL mobo, 1 GB 800 RamBus, Radeon 7500 graphics card, HP 9900i (DVD, CD-R,CD-RW), Antec case + 300W ps = $1300. I seriously considered Mac, but couldn't find anything like what I built at double the price. Also, I designed this system to be upgradable for at least the next decade.

-- Glenn Travis (leciaddict@hotmail.com), February 03, 2002.

I shoot film and let someone else scan them and if I want digital prints I pay someone else.

The digital darkroom (Ha!) is not in my future, it's too expensive to get the same quality as I get can get out of trad darkroom practices. Sure the control of Photoshop (or similar apps) is nice, but the input/output thing has me frustrated money wise. And I don't have the room (I rent the wet room). Besides I enjoy getting out of the apartment now and again...

-- Dave Doyle (soilsouth@home.com), February 04, 2002.

Mac G4 Dual 800, 1.5GB RAM, Barco monitor, Imacon scanner, Gretag color spectro. Output done by a pro lab on Fuji Frontier at 300 dpi when small, Lambda at 400 dpi when big.

I've wasted a lot of time and money on home printers with barely acceptable results (Epson 2000 and 1290 for color, 1200 w/ Piezography for bw). Each inkjet print costs at least as much as the Frontier prints.

-- Roger (roger@photo.net), February 04, 2002.