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Rangefinder Magazine
June 2003

First Exposure: by Claude J. Jodoin
The Missing Link: Finishing Your Prints with a “Money Maker”

Unrolling Your Own
Elsewhere in this issue, I talked about the Epson 7600 Ultrachrome 24-in. roll paper unit as being an ideal “photographer’s printer.” Using Q Image Pro (www.ddisoftware.com) as a batch printer utility, in concert with Epson’s excellent driver in Windows 2000/XP, turns this printer into a serious, economical production machine. This setup can run overnight, unattended if need be. For Apple users, it would be worth investing in a cheap Windows box as a printer buffer and networking to your Mac workstations, just to use this excellent utility, which is the best $35 I ever spent.

Lacquer Matte’s Money Maker is true to its name.

When setting the Epson printer driver, all you need to do is make sure you select “Banner Paper” and check the “No Margins” and “Auto-cut” box. Then, you create a “user defined” paper size that’s 24 (W) x 10 (H) inches. Q Image pro can then apply your selected Atkinson Printer profile on the fly as it automatically interpolates and lays out three borderless units side by side across that big sheet, from all the units you put in Q Images “Print Queue.” All the printable packages or single images going to full 8x10 can be gathered from a single or separate image folders. So, for example, you can cue up 60 8x10 units or mix in images that are captured by a digital camera with a 3:2 ratio, to be symmetrically auto-cropped and interpolated to 8x10, irrespective of the pixel count on the original file. You can double- click any of the images and do a white balance, custom crop, sharpening, etc. to the image without touching the original file. QImage has the option of creating a filter file that applies changes to images only when they print though QImage. When you hit the print button, the system then starts processing each individual image and crating these 24x10 files that are then sent to the Epson printer driver concurrently in a “first in/first out” fashion. The system will start producing and automatically cutting your 24 x 10 prints and drop them into the basket below, ready to pick up the next morning. All that remains is to trim them apart on a Rollcut trimmer. Just be sure there are several Gigabytes of spare drive space available as a printer buffer. This becomes an enormous amount of data to have in a queue. This will prevent you from using your computer for others tasks until all images have been loaded in the operating system printer buffer.

So, How Do They Look?
When done right, Epson Ultrachrome pigment prints on Premium RC papers (Luster or Semi- Matte) can look as good as any lab print, but have two issues that must be dealt with. Since the pigments sit on top of the paper, the image surface is prone to scratching if handled too soon. So, a 24-hour cure time should be part of your workflow, otherwise, be very careful with those prints. You should be using white cotton gloves whenever possible anyhow, just like lab personnel have historically done.

The second issue that crops up is the “gloss differential” that becomes noticeable (especially in the light areas) when you hold the print at an oblique angle to a specular light source. Some areas look dull and some look shiny.

How Do We Finish the Job?
The solution to both of these issues is to coat the prints with a lacquer finish. I do not currently own a spray booth and face mask. If I were going to kill off my few remaining brain cells, I’d do it by drinking alcohol rather than by breathing lacquer spray solvents in my unventilated environment. It’s slower and more fun than those nasty airborne chemicals that can be smelled anywhere in the building where they are sprayed (without the proper exhaust system). So what’s the answer?

My quest for a better solution (including a short stint with a laminator), brought me back to Lacquer-Mat, the same people who make excellent solvent lacquers (for those who own spray booths and can use those products safely).
For the rest of us without spray booths (which is still a good solution to print finishing if you have the right equipment), they make a water-based lacquer applied with their brand new roller- coating machine, called the “Money Maker.” They chose that name because it allows any studio to coat their own prints for about 4 cents per 8x10, as opposed to paying a lab $1 per 8x10 to do it—that’s a 95 percent savings!

The beauty of this system is that it’s affordable, fast, and it easily cleans up with cold water. This machine can crank out 300, dry to dry, 8x10s per hour and up to 75 16x20s from it’s 18-in. roller transport. To put it mildly, this thing is a joy to use. This is a heavy-duty beast and it looks like it’s built to last forever. As you can see from the accompanying photograph, it can coat up to a 16x20 print.

The controls are simple. There’s a master power on switch, located in the lower portion of the control panel, with a red light indicating it’s on or off status. The top switch turns on the drive motor and locks into the forward position during normal operation. It allows for momentary reverse motor operation (in case of a mis-feed by the user).

There’s also an on/off switch for the array of fans in the rear of the machine which quickly dry the coated prints before they reach the exit port in the back of the unit. Last but not least there’s a speed control knob that optimizes the coating speed and dry time. Once set up properly, this machine is simple to use and works well.

Performance
This machine only takes two minutes to get running. All you do is lift the front cover, pour in the water-based liquid, flip one switch for the drive motor, another for the drying fans, and you are ready to coat prints. You can coat inkjet prints from pigment- and dye-based inks, but they must be on the RC type glossy “photo” papers. Matte papers will stick to the rollers and it will take you a while to clean up the mess. You only make this mistake once, I promise. Remember no matte papers allowed (but you’ll probably be bullheaded and try it anyway, only to end up proving me right).

As shown in the photograph, the prints are fed into the front of the machine, emulsion side down. They also come out that way. If you want to have a thicker coat on your prints, you can run them through a second time, if you wish. Running the prints through more than twice creates a thicker, duller finish, with diminishing returns setting quickly after three coats. Fast, economical, and simple—how much better could it be?

My in-studio Lab is now complete. Digital cameras, meters, lights, backgrounds, computers, Photoshop, Qimage, Epson 7600 with Ultrachrome Pigments Inks, Trimmer, and a Lacquer Mat Coating Machine. A client can come in, get a portrait created, immediately order a print order from the session (at a premium price, of course) and leave the next day (or sooner) with a finished print that will last close to 100 years. It’s all done right here from start to finish in the modern filmless photography studio. How much better could it be, indeed.

For more information or to order a Money Maker, call Lacquer Matte at (800) 942-2223. Mention your heard about it in this article and receive $100 off the purchase price. Tell them Claude sent you.

Claude Jodoin has been involved in digital imaging since 1986 and has not used film since 1999. Email: claudej1@aol.com.