chip (02/05/83)
A night ago, I sent this out over the net and then cancelled it
five minutes later. I don't write very well & thought it would be
wise to let the file sit for a day, so I could correct mistakes later.
Well, hell. Even though the news system told me the article had been
cancelled, I received a few "thank you for the article"'s via mail
yesterday. I made the submission at 2 am and I guess the system shipped
the article to some point of no return before I could cancel it. Now I
don't know who got it and who didn't. Here it is again, mistakes & all:
______________________________________________________________________
Film processors such as Fotomat, etc. generally don't take good care
of your film and have lousy quality control. I've had slides come back
with numbers printed across the film (ruining what might otherwise be
a good slide) and I've had negatives come back with one or more of the
frames cut right in half! This has happened more than once.
If anyone processes film right, Kodak does. Now, I send ALL of my slides
to Kodak in Atlanta. When I need prints, it is more important that the
negatives be carefully developed (rather than the prints that are made from
the negatives). I send my print film to Kodak and ask them to develop the
negatives only (~$2). This gives me a chance to look at the results with a
lupe before I spend money on prints. After viewing the negatives, I write
down the frame numbers that I want prints from (usually about 1/3 of
the total #) and take them to the local processor (not Kodak).
If I want enlargements, and don't want to do them myself, I send
negatives to Kodak in Atlanta. When I want 8x10 (or greater) enlargements
from slides, I send them to Kodak in Rochester. The results are a little
better because Rochester makes an inter-negative and then makes a print
from the inter-negative (it reduces the contrast buildup). The fact that
they do this isn't (excuse me, wasn't) widely known. Kodak in Atlanta just
makes a print directly from the slide.
If I want a better print from a slide, I send it to Lasercolor in West
Palm Beach, Florida. The results are very good, but not excellent. The
color is excellent and the contrast is good, BUT the laser system has a
sharp dropoff in the level of detail it can reproduce. Last year, I had
Lasercolor print a very sharp slide of some violets (taken with a Nikon
55mm macro lens). You could see the little veins in the petals when the
slide was projected. That level of detail even survived a color separation
and could be seen in the book print. However, even after numerous re-tries,
Lasercolor could never get my print what I call "Nikon sharp" (reproducing
that extra little-bit-of-detail that makes all the difference to me).
Still, it was better than a standard print.
Kodak Kodak Kodak Kodak Kodak
Nikon Nikon Nikon Nikon Nikon
Chip Hoover
...!mcnc!chip
Chapel Hill, North Carolina