I have a decision to make . I do a lot of prints for clients . I have been doing a lot of 8x10's on a 9600 as well as tons of 16x20 and 20x24's also on the Epson . I get compliments on how good the color is on the prints but always get complaints on the paper not laying flat . I have decided to add a Fuji Pictography or a small Frontier printer to my lineup . I only need to do up to 12x18's on the printer and both will work fine . I have prints from both machines that are damn close in quality so I am wondering if I will gain much buy going to a Frontier machine over a pictography . Anyone used either machine for large print orders ? Does one print outlast the other ? I will be farming out my small prints for the next six months or so but I really don't want to be running to the lab every day and I also have no time to deal with screw ups so owning the printer is my decision . Anyone have any experience with either printer . I am leaning towards the Pictography 4000 machine as it is about 6K and the Frontier is a little more . Price per print costs would be nice as well if anyone has data .
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Fuji digital printers .
- Thread starter ericevans
- Start date
Have you tried using a D-Roller or something similar to get the curl out? Anything that uses paper rolls is going to give you some curl. My dye sub does that to me particarly towards the end of the roll.
I know Andrew Rodney has a Pictrograph. Try emailing him.
I know Andrew Rodney has a Pictrograph. Try emailing him.
ericevans said:
Anita Saunders
New member
I have found the latest digital labs where you download 'uploading' software so good and so quick that I rarely visit a lab anymore. Neither do I bother with home printing where I have to put hours and dollars into callibration etc (not to mention wasted paper or paper curls).
Fuji have many online order labs now. It is only feasible to send jpegs but I only use one straight from the master on highest quality then that's it. I never edit or re-save them. I order one day and usually they arrive in the post the next (or the day after).
Although RGB laser is used to expose, the paper is photographic and is chemically processed and printed. You are probably laughing at my basic (probably inept) technical understanding but the bottom line is that I believe they have more archival longevity than epson or dye sub (who ought not really claim archival properties until those claimed years pass).
Incidentally, my lab emailed me their print profile so I could use it to softproof. My monitor isn't professionally callibrated but having used their profile for ordered prints, I can softproof colours and contrast on my monitor from the hard copy prints.
Just another option if you don't want to splash out the capital, or spend extra hours printing. The prints are unbelievably cheap compared to a few years ago.
Fuji have many online order labs now. It is only feasible to send jpegs but I only use one straight from the master on highest quality then that's it. I never edit or re-save them. I order one day and usually they arrive in the post the next (or the day after).
Although RGB laser is used to expose, the paper is photographic and is chemically processed and printed. You are probably laughing at my basic (probably inept) technical understanding but the bottom line is that I believe they have more archival longevity than epson or dye sub (who ought not really claim archival properties until those claimed years pass).
Incidentally, my lab emailed me their print profile so I could use it to softproof. My monitor isn't professionally callibrated but having used their profile for ordered prints, I can softproof colours and contrast on my monitor from the hard copy prints.
Just another option if you don't want to splash out the capital, or spend extra hours printing. The prints are unbelievably cheap compared to a few years ago.
Last edited:
Anita Saunders
New member
ps
ps - if anyone can advise me on the ins and outs of using the fuji print profile for proper softproofing it would be much appreciated.
ps - if anyone can advise me on the ins and outs of using the fuji print profile for proper softproofing it would be much appreciated.
Ben Rubinstein
pro member
Having once managed a lab I would warn you that minilabs are built for taking a lot of work. Unless you are printing X amount per day (each machine is different) your chemistry is going to go stale even with the replenishment system through lying idle. You have to factor that in if you want to garunatee print quality. You also need to make sure that you have a contract on paper+chemistry, buying them seperately will be expensive. I'm not sure but it is likely that your running costs, paper/chemistry/repair will make prints more expensive for you than going down to your local lab running a frontier and getting them to make the same prints. The reason is because the paper and chemistry is sold in large amounts, with chain stores we are talking about them making a huge order every year and letting Fuji store the stuff in their warehouses delivering on demand. That drives the prices all the way down to a level that your needs would be rather unlikely to be able to demand.
Best thing to do is to have a fuji rep visit you and start quoting you numbers then do the math allowing a margin for wastage. If you are being extremely careful with quality and emptying your tanks periodically and refilling, especially due to the machine lying idle, then your chemistry costs are going to be huge! Keep in mind that it takes a tiny drop of bleach in the developer tank to screw up your entire day (don't know if overspill is possible with a frontier, I got out of it when the frontier was being introduced some years back).
Might also be worth getting together with some other people, maybe some studios, to share the machine between you. That way you will be running more chemistry keeping it fresher and the costs can be shared.
Personally I would love to run my own minilab, my 1000+ prints a week are not enough though to make it viable economically or enough to keep the chemistry fresh enough. I didn't know you could get a frontier that cheaply these days though, when they first came out they were a good quarter of a million with the scanning station.
Best thing to do is to have a fuji rep visit you and start quoting you numbers then do the math allowing a margin for wastage. If you are being extremely careful with quality and emptying your tanks periodically and refilling, especially due to the machine lying idle, then your chemistry costs are going to be huge! Keep in mind that it takes a tiny drop of bleach in the developer tank to screw up your entire day (don't know if overspill is possible with a frontier, I got out of it when the frontier was being introduced some years back).
Might also be worth getting together with some other people, maybe some studios, to share the machine between you. That way you will be running more chemistry keeping it fresher and the costs can be shared.
Personally I would love to run my own minilab, my 1000+ prints a week are not enough though to make it viable economically or enough to keep the chemistry fresh enough. I didn't know you could get a frontier that cheaply these days though, when they first came out they were a good quarter of a million with the scanning station.
Ben Rubinstein
pro member
Just done a bit of research, the lowest model that will print an 18X12" print is the frontier 550, that machine can print over a thousand prints an hour which will give you some idea of the kind of volume it and its chemicals have been designed for though even 500 a day should keep the chemistry pretty fresh. Unless it can be bought without the terminal, i.e. you can hook it up to your computer using that as the terminal (it didn't say), there is little chance that it is going to cost anywhere near 6K. I'm interested to know what prices they are quoting you etc, as I said I wish I had the volume to buy one of those machines!
Edmund Ronald
New member
Why not try the Kodak dyesub line ? compact and fast.
Edmund
Edmund
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Who has one? I've never seen the output of the Kodak dyesub line, but you have sparked my interest.
Asher
Asher
Well I have made my decision . I will cease printing operations fo all clients in about a month . I will be buying a Pictography machine for personal use and will be sending my print orders off to Costco so I no longer have to deal with it . I will eventually turn the 9600 into canvas and fine art paper printing as I really want to play on canvas . My schedule is getting crazy and I am working out of state more often and I never seem to have enough time to upload stock so I am getting out of the printing .