Realist Prints

[P3D Dave Williams <daverw@xxxxxxxxx>]

Re: some discussion a week or so ago about getting prints from Realist
negatives by Thom Gillian.  I finally found some time so try printing
some on the printer at the One Hour lab I manage.  Sorry for the delay,
but I became a Grandfather last week, and for some reason haven't had as
much spare time...
        I shot a roll of general subjects on Reala, rated at ASA 100.  First I
printed a few on the normal print settings, just to establish a
reference.  As Thom pointed out, the problems were the inability to
frame the shot without a portion of each adjacent frame showing in the
print window, and the resulting discrepancies in exposure between the
matching pairs.  The other problem he mentioned, overall color and
density correction, was there also, but IMO not much more, if any, than
with any other film format.
        I didn't much like his idea of masking off my negative carrier to fit
the format, mainly due to the nuisance involved.  I deal with a large
volume of film daily and that would be too impractical.  
        With a little playing around it occurred to me that my printer has a
mode for running print tests and then later calling up the test print
number to run a number of matching reprint orders.  Bingo!  I shot the
first frame of each pair in this test mode, making any corrections I
wanted as I went.  The printer has a positive monitor so I can see how
each frame looked before I printed it.  Actually in the whole roll, I
think I only added a little density in a frame or two. The test mode
assigns a number to each print consecutively, which can be called up
later.
        I sent the prints through the chemistry, printed some customers orders
as I waited and in 5 minutes, had one rather nice print from each stereo
pair.  Next, I fed the film back through again, advanced to the second
frame of the first pair, checked the number on the back of the print,
called that number up in the test mode, and printed it.  The result was
a perfect match to the first print, including whatever corrections I had
made.  By following this procedure for the rest of the roll, I ended up
with two matched prints of every pair.  My printer only does 4x6, so I
got 4x4 1/8 prints.

        By the way, Dr. T, this old brick turned out some d**n nice prints! 
Better image quality than the vast majority of stuff that comes across
my counter.

        My conclusions and impressions.  Once I figured the procedure out, it
was really fairly simple, and didn't take long, even with running the
film through twice.  I would have no problem doing this for someone who
asked for the service.  I see no reason to charge more for it, given the
relative ease of the process.  (We charge a per print price, no
processing charge.) I'd probably ask the customer to give me longer than
the usual one hour to do it, just in case extra corrections, etc. were
needed. And I'd probably want to do it myself, just to make sure it was
done right, and because it would be easier than explaining to my crew
which frame went to which pair! :) :) 
        
        Some tips if you want to approach your local lab about this.  My
printer is the Fuji SFA 255.  All Wal-Mart one hour photo labs installed
in the last 3 years have this machine, or a model higher, depending on
their volume.  Older labs have the Fuji 1040, and If I recall from my
1040 days, this procedure is not availbale on that printer.  We were
flying by the seat of our pants back then!  You should be able to see
the printer number on the side of the machine from the counter.  

        Labs with other companies may well be able to do this for you, but my
experience is only with Fuji machines.

        Talk to the manager, let him know what you need and show him a stereo
print and he'll probably be glad to try something new.  Just don't do it
over lunch hour, between 5 and 7 pm or any time between Thanksgiving or
Christmas! :)

        BTW, I also have a Fuji Pictrostat color copier that can make prints on
photo paper from Realist slides, any size up to 8x10.  They come out
pretty well, about like a type R print, with some density and color
correction capability.

        Having said all this... I probably will still shoot slide film in my
Realist. I prefer illuminated viewing to print viewing.  I look at
prints all day, and a well done slide is like therapy!  My curiosity was
piqued, so I tried this.

        Hope this is helpful - you all have helped me tremendously since I've
been following photo-3d.  Thanks!

Dave Williams
Kansas City



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