Kiosk Color Printing suggestions

JB
Posted By
John_Blasquez
Mar 4, 2004
Views
206
Replies
10
Status
Closed
Any suggestions on machines that do a good job on chemical process prints? (Is there an official name for that? I’m talking about a laser exposure of regular photographic paper, after which the paper goes through a traditional color development bath. Please correct me if I’m wrong!)

I’ve been using the Frontier/Fugi kiosk to print to an Alladin system at Long’s Drugs in San Francisco Bay Area. The results are very good to my eye.

While Long’s is more than twice the price ($5.49 for 8×10) of Costco’s Noritsu QSS 3101 300 DPI Laser ($1.99) … Long’s color is much better and I like Long’s paper better. unfortunately Long’s "Prints in Minutes" service gives unpredictable results.

I’m looking for a location/machine that might have better prints & better price.

I’ve considered a color inkjet printer, but I think it might be expensive to match this quality. Suggestions?

Brand new to all of this. any FAQs or articles around?

John
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NK
Neil_Keller
Mar 5, 2004
A mid-price (even cheap price) color inkjet printer — properly set up — can give you color that rivals very good color prints, machine made or handmade. If you wish your prints to last, make sure the model you choose uses "archival" inks.

If you’ve bought 100 prints, you’ve already paid for (or come close to paying for) a decent letter-size color printer.

Neil
J
JasonSmith
Mar 5, 2004
What size prints do you need?
RM
Rick_McCleary
Mar 5, 2004
I don’t know if this addresses your question directly, but I have had success with using custom profiles with minilabs (Frontier and Noritsu). Go to www.drycreek.com. There, you will find a listing (by state) of all the minilabs they have profiled with links to download the profiles and some excellent guidelines on implementing the profiles.

For those times when you need RA-4 (or equivalent prints), it is a good, cheap alternative.
AS
Ann_Shelbourne
Mar 5, 2004
Rick:

That Creek is unfortunately dry at this time!
JB
John_Blasquez
Mar 5, 2004
Jason,

Mostly I’m printing 8 x 10 and 4 x 6.

Although I know I’m going to want to print an 18 by 24 soon.

Thanks, John
JB
John_Blasquez
Mar 5, 2004
Thanks Rick,

But I didn’t find an active URL at

<http://www.drycreek.com>

John
JB
John_Blasquez
Mar 5, 2004
Hi Neil,

I’m not overly concerned about the cost of the printer itself. (Curious though as to what printer you’d recommend for archival ink …)

Actually I’m more concerned about the ongoing cost of paper and ink … especially if the print quality falls short of the services I’ve been using.

Doesn’t heavy "archive quality" paper cost $1.00 per sheet?

With an inkjet, I pay for the price of every goof-up, and I end up with unuable scraps of expensive paper.

At my photo labs I can get four 4x 6 prints in the $.80 to $1.20 range. On the other hand, I can’t quite get four 4 x 6s on a $1.00 8 x 11 sheet of inkjet paper … and then there’s the cost of ink.

And my labs will redo for free — on very nice paper 70 year paper. Excellent quailty color and finish.

John
J
JasonSmith
Mar 5, 2004
If you’re looking to get into 18×24 or bigger, I would suggest the following wide format ink-jet:

< http://www.rolanddga.com/products/printers/FJ/FJ-PRO/default .asp>

Or

<http://www.rolanddga.com/products/pro2/FJPro2/default.asp>

We have three of the 540’s here. They blow away anything by HP or Epson.

We can nail most corporate Pantone colors, including 485 2X and 296. You could nail the coca-cola red if you have to.

(we do a lot of high quality display and backlit signage)
RM
Rick_McCleary
Mar 5, 2004
— That Creek is unfortunately dry at this time! –<

Sorry, my bad. The url is www.drycreekphoto.com
AS
Ann_Shelbourne
Mar 5, 2004
Rick:

A most valuable resource. Thank you.

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