unhappy with frontier output

[avandesande]

Is it just me or is something wrong frontier output on crystal archive?
I find the colors to be a muddy cold color (this is at a pro lab)
I like kodak processed paper better but it is getting harder and harder to find places to do this.

[Helen B]

Maybe this should be moved to the Grey Area?

I get my large-ish colour prints done on FCA by a lab that uses a Frontier (www.ezprints.com). After spending a bit of time discovering the best way of preparing the files for them, I'm happy with the quality and amazed by the price. Let me know if you would like a sample print or two.

As far as I understand, the Frontier assumes that the image is in sRGB. That's not the greatest colour space, and is probably not exploiting the capabilities of FCA. I get some prints made at a local lab in NYC (www.printspacenyc.com) which uses a Chromira and Endura paper. The Frontier/FCA results compare well with those. I guess that a lot is down to the lab.

Best,
Helen

[df cardwell]

I have my color negs done on a Frontier and ( depending on the lab ) get fine prints if the operator is free of drugs, cares about the job, and the lab itself encourages good quality.

The paper isn't the issue, it's the lab / operator.

As for ( GRAY AREA ALERT ) printing stuff I scan, it's easy-peasy to get great prints with just a little prep work.

.

[avandesande]

I am going to a good lab.. perhaps fuji film will work better? I have always been partial to portra films but just can't seem to get good prints on a fuji.

I think moving this to the grey area is a little harsh... I don't think it is really possible any more to have your color printed 'digital free' unless you do it yourself.

[Aggie]

The grey area was set up for this exact thing. It's not harsh it is just keeping with what apug is about.

[roteague]

It has nothing to do with either the film or the paper. With this printer, your negatives/slides are scanned first, and were probably improperly adjusted before being sent to the printer. Just find another lab.

[avandesande]

I usually don't look in the grey forum.
Any beginner that is taking up color is going to be running into the same problem I am having, not many people are going to mess around with color photography and jump into c-41 and ra-4 at the same time.

I seems like a legal distinction more than a practical one. Film goes into a machine and a silver print comes out.

The grey area was set up for this exact thing. It's not harsh it is just keeping with what apug is about.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Frontier/LightJet/Chromira etc. are probably not even appropriate topics for the Grey Area, which is more for things like digital negs for alternative processes, but I'll move it there for now.

[Helen B]

Frontier/LightJet/Chromira etc. are probably not even appropriate topics for the Grey Area, which is more for things like digital negs for alternative processes, but I'll move it there for now.

If that is what this sub-forum is for, why did Sean write this in the rules:

"This forum is for the discussion of using traditional and digital processes together as an alternative process. Some examples would be creating digital negatives for contact printing on photographic paper, or scanning film then outputting that scan to a digital print."?

Thanks,
Helen

[avandesande]

Helen thanks for the advice about the color spaces. Didn't mean to bite your head off about the gray area thing!
I always though that frontier had different profiles for different negative materials?
I have zero interest in manipulating scans so I am at the mercy of the lab.