----- Original Message ----- From: "Jerry Lehrer" <jerryleh@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, May 30, 2005 3:48 PM Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Old film > Richard, > > One of my summer jobs in NYC was in a Lab, processing > Anscochrome and enlarging Ansco Printon prints. The > Anscochrome transparencies were not too bad, but Printon > was baaaad! > > My last summer job was at Kurshan & Lang processing > commercial Ektachrome sheet film and working on Dye > Transfer prints for Lenny Zoref. I even tried > Flexichrome, > or was it called Crawfordcolor? Remember those? > > Jerry I remember Flexichrome because I wanted to try it. I think it may have been purchased by Kodak from Crawford, but am not sure. For those not familiar with this Flexichrome was a dye absorption material using a gelatin matrix similar to (but not the same) that used in dye transfer, that one painted with dyes in a sort of paint by the numbers method. The dye set was very extensive. If done skillfully the result was excellent but it was a real specialty similar to the kind of oil coloring that looks like a real color photo and not just sort of tinted. I doubt if there were many people who were really good at this. Flexichrome was popular for advertising art since anything could be any color at will. My memory was that Printon had a bad reputation. Evidently it was capable of at least acceptable quality if handled just right. I've only ever seen a couple of Printon prints that were OK looking. Its virtue was simplicity. By memory the processing took only a few steps similar to modern color materials. Kodak color materials were processed like color film in a finicky multi-step process. AFAIK, at least throgh the 1950's the best quality printing was done on Kodak Dye Transfer material, with possibly some color carbro still being used. Both dye transfer and color carbro are extremely fussy requiring very good control over many things. Dye transfer is somewhat less fussy. From what I've heard about three color carbro from those who worked with it it was an exceptionally fussy process requiring referigerated processing rooms. I've seen a number of excellent dye transfer prints but color carbon prints do not seem to show up in museums. Its not permanence since it is an extremely long lived process. Perhaps there simply were not many in circulation. --- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx --- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx --- Rollei List - Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx - Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Online, searchable archives are available at //www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list