Looking for oversize black and white printers...

Framing Goddess

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Jul 18, 2000
Posts
4,317
Loc
Cleveland, Ohio
... to be more specific, I have a customer who has an 11x14 hand printed black and white image (from a 4x5 negative) that he would like to have enlarged into an oversized print. Like 4' x 6' or larger. Spare me the copyright chatter- it's his own image. But he no longer has the negative, so a copy negative would have to be made. No big deal there, but who makes real photo prints this large? He wants to avoid ink jet prints.

Anyone know of any fine art printers still doing this kind of work?

thanks much,
edie the andthenigottaframethebeast goddess
 
Edie, Why not check with PMA? They are bound to have some sort of referal service.
I know of one in NYC that handles the OS work for Richard Avedon and his ilk. When I can resource the name I'll get back to you with it. It's been a while since I dealt with them.
 
have him contact a commercial photo lab. This would be a lab that would be frequented by advertising agencies. They are listed in the yellow pages under "photo labs"
 
Edie it has been a while since I was at a PPFA trade show and I don't know didly about print making ,but the Photo Suppliers had flatbed printers that were so large they looked like a real BED.
So I'm sure they are available and maybe PMAI/PPFA could send you in the right direction.

However the person I know who uses a Epson has told me that even the ULTRA GICLEE printer encounters the same problem all other photo reproducers have. If you start with a relatively smaller original and you increase the size a bunch , the image gets Grainier and Grainier as the copy increases in size. And if my math is correct that is a 400 -500% increase which is a bunch by my standards.
BUDDY
 
Wow, you guys are quick!
Thanks for the suggestions.
Wally, I just submitted a request to PMA, easypeasy. If you hear of anything else, let me know.
Jerome, none of the labs in town know of anyone. Or they're not talking...
Buddy, the grain issue is not a problem here. The original image uses the grain as part of its 'design' and it would only get more interesting as it gets larger.

Keep 'em coming!
edie the iknowtheressomeoneoutthere goddess
 
Prints this large are routine for a commercial photo lab that uses a Chromira or Lambda printer. These machines will print on RA4 photo paper up to 54 inches wide and xxx long .

Be sure to request that the print be returned to your frame shop for mounting and framing


Doug
 
Modernage
www.modernage.com
(212) 997-1800

They now are called a custom digital imaging lab, but in the past they were known as a professional photo lab and seem to have all the stuff to do all the mega prints you want.

Dermot, The fiber based B&W photo paper comes in rolls at least 51" wide (or used to....****ed digital era anyway).
 
Just a suggestion: the next time you’re at the airport, check out some of those transparent advertising displays. There should be an acknowledgment of who printed them somewhere on the display. Most of them, I suspect, are local.

The guys who print them for the Manchester airport have done some work for me in the past. They ain’t cheap, but they sure do nice work.
 
You could also call an exhibit house in your area. Those people are the ones who usually make the displays at the airports and at trade shows. They definitely would know who still prints photos that large. Of course the current print still has to be reshot onto at least a 4x5 neg but preferably an 8x10 with the resulting loss of clarity a second generation neg will produce. But, as you said, the grain is part of the effect so it shouldn't be a problem.
 
Hey, Goddess, What about our good buddy, Warren? He has a couple of Epson printers (I think a 9600 and a 10000).

Heck, with all the world class wisdom he shares, maybe he deserves an email? I would rather deal with some one here than somebody in Neew Yoork City (get a rope)

And, if he can't, he might have a good referral
 
I was just going to say, Bob, "we do that" and have done it in the past for grumblers. Thank you for the plug.

That said, an 11 x 14 print hand made or not, is not a negative and does not have nearly the information that a negative has. Top quality scanning (on our Creo IQ Smart2 scanner will do a better job than a copy negative (and at less cost) but I don't think the print will give enough quality info to print much bigger than say 24" X. To get 300 ppi (photo quality) at 24" from an 11 x 14 would require scanning at 654 ppi. For 40" you'd need to scan at over 1,000 ppi and that's a lot. We can do it using the IQ Smart's xy techonology but that's deep scanning of a reflective 11 x 14 and could very well be into the print paper's grain. Not many reflective scanners can scan over 1000 ppi over 11 x 14". Of course, any imperfections in the print are going to be magnified porportionaly.
 
hello!
I have a guy, in Tampa, Fl, I deal with, regularly....Creative Color, www.creative colorinc.com, 813-289-4325....good people to work with.... if they cant/wont do ti, I'm betting they can/will put you onto the right track to someone else in the biz
w.ward
 
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