I used a similar setup when I worked for Loring Studios (now defunct) in the
60s. There were 26 branches, each doing several (b&w) weddings a week. All the
processing was done centrally. Wedding proofs were done on the roll printer,
the only control was a row of five "print" buttons. You judged only the
contrast of a neg and hit the appropriate button. On a good day, I could crank
out 800-1100 prints an hour with less than 1% requiring a makeover. Boring as
all Hell, but the less you thought about it the higher hour production rate.
With one of their really good photographers, all you did was push button #3 o
er and over. (They had maybe three guys who were that good. The rest....???)
On March 17, 2016, at 11:46 PM, darkroommike <darkroommike@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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I've actually played with a low volume version of a black and white printer.
This one was a Pako, there was an overhead roll of paper, a mask for the print
size and a film holder attached to a table, then there was a fairly bright
light down under the table (think upside down enlarger, you moved the "head" up
and down to adjust format and print size. Each negative was "scanned" by a Mark
I eyeball and a button (or a series of buttons) were pressed to actuate a
shutter, the button told the machine what you thought the relative bright dark
ratio was and a photocell controlled exposure, exposure complete the paper
advanced and you manually moved the negative to the next frame. Kodak made a
similar machine and the machines were later adapted to do color with a dichroic
lamphouse and a set of subtractive paddles. Rolls were processed in a "cine"
type long roll continuous processor and the output was checked and do over
prints made as needed.
High volume setups used more/better automation and a higher throughput.
------ Original Message ------
From: "Harlan Chapman" <hchapman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 3/17/2016 9:43:40 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] "Drugstore" BW Prints
Do any of you know how "drugstore" black and white snapshot prints were made?
I'm curious about how the framing, focus, exposure time, and contrast control
(if any) was handled?
All automated, or was an operator involved?
Thank you,
-Harlan
