DIGITAL IMAGING -
A Different VISION
The fact that digital images are invisible and exist only as data is an oft concealed secret. Anyone who has 'lost' important files knows the benefit
of a 'hard copy' but modern photographers are accumulating large bodies of work in the virtual world without having a realistic archiving medium. What is needed is a high quality, low cost , human-readable, long lasting, proof of content, storage medium ... think FILM! There is no other method proven over time. Even IF the data and the media can hold up, the equipment used to unlock current technologies is unlikely to be available for very long. We concur with independant imaging consultant Fred Shippey*, that film is the best solution for digital imaging's "dirty little secret".
*see Digital Imaging Digest, Newsletter of the Digital Imaging Marketing Association, Sept. 2005, Page 6.
In cut-away view the LightJet's red, green and blue lasers are depicted
combining into white light and scanning across the light sensitive film.
The LightJet 2080:
Originally developed for satelite image data recording, the Cymbolic Science's lightJet we use is a digital/analogue conversion device which writes a 12.5μ spot of modulated light to film at a resolution of 80 lines per mm.
By writing digital files back to film we retain the benefits of both. Not only are the images secured in the real world, but we are able to print the resultant transparencies utilising all the existing hand printing skills perfected over generations. No machine can ever replace the eye of an artist and no mechanical output is ever 100% consistant but the subtle control we exercise means our prints will always do justice to the original, and there is a very real difference in the look of a print made with light, particularly in the smoothnes of gradation from highlights to shadows.
FILE SPECIFICATIONS:
Optimum file for an 8x10" transparency from our Lightjet is 990MB, 8bit RGB .tif however onboard interpolation enables excellent results from files above 100MB.