RaymondCarver
Member
I'm studying imaging at university.
For now, it's a matter of cost why we students can not yet explore any other printing process besides ink jet for our digital content. There is something of an image-setter process called dye sublimation which produces great continuous tones, but it is three to five dollars per print for ink and substrate. Our profs not going to let us use that thing, nor does it do the size we need. The chemical room is right over in the next lab, but theres not the funding to run it, especially for experimenting students. Theres a seven-cartridge printer in one of the profs offices that we can use for special projects, but what else is there? I dont know if Im getting the exposure to varied printing methods that I need. Acquiring new technology to work with in our department shouldnt be a problem, but I guess the lack of funding is not a new one to many a university.
Printing people, do you know that our digital prints may not last very long? For archive purposes, youre just going to have the final version archived to retrieve and print at a later time for replacement. I guess, then, that output will consist of these things: digital prints that will not last years upon years, archiving data of the print, and having a computing and printing system that can read and then output the archived image. If that is the case, then if my children are not computer literate enough to move around, manipulate, archive, and output data, then what I produce will not last generations like traditional emulsion-based photos.
-Ray
For now, it's a matter of cost why we students can not yet explore any other printing process besides ink jet for our digital content. There is something of an image-setter process called dye sublimation which produces great continuous tones, but it is three to five dollars per print for ink and substrate. Our profs not going to let us use that thing, nor does it do the size we need. The chemical room is right over in the next lab, but theres not the funding to run it, especially for experimenting students. Theres a seven-cartridge printer in one of the profs offices that we can use for special projects, but what else is there? I dont know if Im getting the exposure to varied printing methods that I need. Acquiring new technology to work with in our department shouldnt be a problem, but I guess the lack of funding is not a new one to many a university.
Printing people, do you know that our digital prints may not last very long? For archive purposes, youre just going to have the final version archived to retrieve and print at a later time for replacement. I guess, then, that output will consist of these things: digital prints that will not last years upon years, archiving data of the print, and having a computing and printing system that can read and then output the archived image. If that is the case, then if my children are not computer literate enough to move around, manipulate, archive, and output data, then what I produce will not last generations like traditional emulsion-based photos.
-Ray
Since I got my digital camera, I've been sending out pics that I want printed. I personally believe that unless you're printing 8x10s like crazy, it's a lot cheaper... and even if you are printing 8x10's I'd rather print ones that would last.