Vintage photos, print advice needed

[zea14]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and looking for advice.

I volunteer for our local historical society and we have a huge collection of glass negatives from circa 1900. We've had about 100 printed professionally but the cost is outrageous. ($35 per 8x10)

I found I can take a digital image of them and with a few clicks of the mouse I can convert to a pretty decent image. Now I want to print them. Obviously I want to stay with black & white & need both 8x10's for framing & 4x6's for reference to the public.

Should I go with a glossy or matte photo paper? Print via inkjet or laser? I will also be putting them on disk for preservation but would like these prints to last as long as possible.

Thanks for any advice or suggestions!

[sergio2263]

Re: Vintage photos, print advice needed

Hi, I'm new to the forum and looking for advice.

I volunteer for our local historical society and we have a huge collection of glass negatives from circa 1900. We've had about 100 printed professionally but the cost is outrageous. ($35 per 8x10)

I found I can take a digital image of them and with a few clicks of the mouse I can convert to a pretty decent image. Now I want to print them. Obviously I want to stay with black & white & need both 8x10's for framing & 4x6's for reference to the public.

Should I go with a glossy or matte photo paper? Print via inkjet or laser? I will also be putting them on disk for preservation but would like these prints to last as long as possible.

Thanks for any advice or suggestions!

Why don't you have a try with either paper and printers so you'll know which you prefer.

[Jerryb]

Re: Vintage photos, print advice needed

hi,
I am no expert but a few things... i do know....
1. good quality non acid paper . ligmen free paper supposed be very good...
2. some photo inkjet printers offer special ink that are designed for long lasting.. so you may want to check your printers and see what kind of ink it uses or can use... just regular or the long lasting....
3. there are coatings that can be used to make printed photos last longer ...

I went alittle bit further to find out what else... I always like to learn and i found this interesting article that which you might find of interest

http://ezinearticles.com/?Top-Ten-Wa...otos&id=397285

on lasers printing... i don't have info on that other than i believe many of the same tips would apply to lasers...

[MouseJunkie]

Re: Vintage photos, print advice needed

We've had about 100 printed professionally but the cost is outrageous. ($35 per 8x10)

Did you pay $35 per print, i.e. $3500 for 100 prints or a total of $35 for 100 prints?

If you paid $3500, I'd say invest a few hundred dollars in a good inkjet printer. If you paid 35 cents per print, I'd say that was cheap and you probably won't be able to beat it with printing your own due to ink and paper costs - even if you use 3rd party refill ink for the printer.

Paper is really a matter of preference. As Jerryb said, go for acid-free. I like using semi-gloss(satin) photo paper.

Spraying photos with a protective coating is tedious and requires a well ventilated and dust free area. And like Jerryb said, inks used in photo inkjets last quite long. They are supposed to last 100 or even more years when kept in an album. Less under glass and even less when exposed to light and air - but still quite long.

You might want to look into a printer that uses grey inks in addition to black for b/w prints.

What printer(s) do you already have access to?