FAQ – Find Answers

You have analogue picture material on film and you would like to create fine art prints from it and consider whether you would like to have these produced as classic prints in the chemical development process or as fine art prints printed by us?

A perfectly executed fine art print from a pre-processed scan of a negative is superior to an analogue print from a negative in many ways. Everything else is a myth. We have been in the analogue darkroom business for over 20 years and have the expertise to put it so clearly.

In a calibrated digital workflow, in contrast to the analogue process, all image parameters such as brightness, contrast, details in the shadows and highlights etc. are precisely defined in advance. The final result on a specific paper can be simulated on the monitor (soft proof). Random deviations are thus excluded; test strips are no longer necessary.

Analogue problems such as blurring in the image corners, as caused by enlarging lenses, or contrast deviations within individual prints of an edition due to changes in developer condition, room temperature, etc. are not present. The analog trial-and-error procedure is finally behind us. The two-part digital procedure – targeted post-production of the scan in Lightroom and Photoshop and the subsequent Fine Art Print – is the far more precise method of producing prints.

Each print can be reproduced in exactly the same way, e.g. for the production of editions, at any time. Only with the digital workflow can the result be achieved in a way that was once desired in the old darkroom, the elimination of chance. And yet the final print retains the characteristics, the charm of the film, the grain and the analogue look.

We are the experts for such prints.

The fascination of the analogue 35 mm camera with its mechanical wheels and scales in an often silver-black metal bodies is unbroken. In Berlin, young people with analogue cameras around their necks are now an integral part of the street scene. Dealers in analogue photographic supplies are recording significantly higher sales of film than just a few years ago, and prices for a used Nikon, Leica or Hasselblad are rising again.

The fascination with analogue photography is particularly evident in the case of B&W films: The appearance of the analogue grain is unique, the film has much less shadow detail and, depending on the film chosen, already has its own aesthetic. These are all basic elements for later works of art, completely without digital filters. This special look and feel is often difficult to achieve digitally, even with Photoshop plug-ins.

If you like this kind of photography, you should use film. From the developed film, scans are made carefully and in sufficient resolution. If you wish, we can take over the post-production of the scans and then print your motifs on the finest baryta paper. We cannot recommend an analogue print (see our FAQ “Analogue vs. digital print”).

Technically it may be noted that in case of a highly overexposed film, details in the highlights of the picture can still be achieved. A highly overexposed digital image has only white there. In the shadows it is the other way round: Where a digital camera still offers information in the case of underexposure, there is often no sensitization on the film. And where nothing has been exposed, nothing can be conjured up in post-production; the positive remains black in the shadows.

You own old recordings on film, but don’t have any prints? No problem. We can put you in touch with a service provider who specializes in high-quality scans and who enjoys our trust. We do not carry out scans ourselves. However, we will be happy to take over the post-production and later the printing after the scans have been delivered to us. With many years of experience and a trained eye, it is a matter of course to process the scan of a negative from the 1970s, for example, so that the later print looks credibly like an original print from that time; over-correction and the creation of a modern photo are prohibited here.