"Frank Arthur" <Art@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:K65Lj.30081$dT.7026@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> "Ken Hart" <kwhart1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> news:fE4Lj.4354$N62.2241@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>> "evansx3" <marke1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>> news:vJ3Lj.1400$Cn4.341@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>>I have found many 100 year old negatives of my home town and would like
>>>to develope the photos. Iam told they are "photographer negatives" and
>>>they are very large ( about 8x10 ). Is there a scanner I could purchase
>>>to enable me to print out the photos?
>>>
>>> Thanks Mark
>>>
>>
>> Why not just take them into the darkroom and contact print them? Many
>> exxcellent photograph have been made without the aid of a computer or
>> scanner. Darkroom technology is mature, alive, and doing pretty well.
> Are you serious? Darkroom technology is expensive, time consuming, uses
up
> a lot of resources, requires a darkroom, special lighting and equipment
> and is dying out fast.
>
> Almost any flatbed scanner that also provides software that enables
> reversing the image would work. It would produce dry, finished images in
> minutes without a darkroom or the use of water.
>
Wrong, pretty much all around.
Equipment for contact printing consists of a piece of glass from the local
hardware store, two or three tray-like containers from the housewares
section of WalMart. The time required for each print may be 3-5 minutes,
with a half hour when all the negs have been printed for washing and
drying.
As for resources, the two chemicals required neutralize each other when
they
are dumped down the drain and the water required is about the same as a
family size load of laundry for a couple dozen 8x10's. A darkroom? No, a
room that can be darkened, nearly. Special lighting could be a red
Christmas
bulb or no light at all (I usually work in a Dark darkroom).
The scanned negatives will not have the gradual subtle tonality of an
optical (or contact) print. Depending on how you print them, they will not
have the life of a properly processed B&W print, rated at 200+ years.
Darkroom tachnology is not expensive, not time consumung, does not use up
a
lot of resource, and last but not least, is not dying out fast! Try it out
before you put it down.
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