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Comment by anfractuosity | Hacker News Reader

On the topic of film, this little short video "Behind the Film - Inside the ILFORD factory" is cool -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXpoALotxf0

They also have a lab that do b&w prints from digital files on photo paper interestingly.

ILFORD is still selling photo paper in rolls with the specific chemicals required for regeneration of baths. It does allow a skilled lab operator to use Durst Lambdas or even a 1hour laser-based minilab like a Noritsu QSS or Fuji Frontier to print on real b&w paper!

However, the same skilled operator should be able to calibrate her minilab in order to obtain decent looking b&w prints on color-based paper (RA4 process - used by Noritsu & Fuji).

>However, the same skilled operator should be able to calibrate her minilab in order to obtain decent looking b&w prints on color-based paper (RA4 process - used by Noritsu & Fuji).

It's actually a fairly good way to test if your lab sucks ass. B/W is not forgiving to poorly calibrated equipment or chain stores that are cheaping out on replenishment.

small nitpick: RA-4 is a Kodak process. The Noritsu minilab I ran used Kodak chemicals. Fujitsu labs typically use a 'compatible' version of their own that can't be called RA-4. While the two systems work, we always found C-41 Fujifilm looked inferior printed on the Kodak processes and vice-versa.

Slight nitpick, if memory serves the Fuji process is CN-16S (though I may be wrong - it's been many years since I ran a Frontier minilab!). To all intents and purposes it's regen RA4 though.

The big problem with Frontiers was it was near impossible to fully eliminate the colour cast on B&W prints. You can kick the machine into B&W mode manually, but there are still limitations the RGB laser exposure engine and process puts on you. Practically that means you can't get a true black like you can with silver-halide processes.

They are still fabulous machines though. Awful user interface, but the technology behind them is pretty incredible.

Nice, I hadn't realised that re. minilabs.

I'm not in a place where I can watch the video right now, but are they doing this via like.. an LCD-equipped enlarger? This would be pretty cool. In the early 2000s I did a lot of experimentation with printing digital negatives to transparencies and printing them in a traditional darkroom or using alt processes.

Good question, I don't think they talk about the b&w digital prints in the video afraid. https://www.harmanlab.com/ is the website for that, which I'm just looking at, but can't see the machine they use at the moment.

It looks like they may use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LightJet for the bigger prints

They seem to use a specific type of paper for the machine too - https://www.harmantechnology.com/amfile/file/download/file/1...

> They also have a lab that do b&w prints from digital files on photo paper interestingly.

Not new or uncommon. The “last generation” of photo finishing (think drug store 1 hour photo mats) since the early 2000s mostly used digital printers. They called them laser printers no less (not a xerographic process, but direct exposure)

The developed film was scanned and this of course allowed them to give you a CD cheaply. Also of course allowed printing digital media easily.

Yeah, I've had colour prints before, but not really seen anyone do true b&w prints.

It wasn’t super uncommon in the past, because you could just use the same equipment with different chemistry. When I say “not super uncommon” what I mean is that you might have a couple different shops with a B&W (non-chromogenic) option in the same city.

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