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
