Minilab
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A minilab is a small photographic developing and printing service, as opposed to the extremently large centralized photo developing labs that had been common previously.
Now that digital photography has arrived there is a decline to the number of films which are processed and printed. This means that the larger labs capable of processing 30 or 40 thousand films a day are going out of business. This has left the floodgates open for the high street minilab who can offer a personal service, with most films processed and printed in under an hour.
In the Kodak minilabs films are processed in C41b and the paper processed in RA4. Using these chemical processes films can be ready for collection in just 30 minutes.
The two main machines in the minilab set up are a film processor and a printer/processor. 35 mm films are pulled, this means they end of the film is pulled out of the cassette, this can done by hand or by using a small machine. A twin check number is put onto the film and the matching number onto the film processing envelope, so that after processing this film can be married back to the customers envelope. Films are spliced on the leader cards one or two at a time, to do this the end of the film is cut square, special Permacel tape is used to attach the film to the leader card. The leader cards is posted into the front of the film processor, sprockets in this card are driven through the machine, the films follow the leader through the machine. The film goes through a developer, bleach, fix and stabiliser then through a dryer. After the film is processed it is cut from the leader card and put with the processing envelope containing the customer details, from here the film goes forward for printing.
Most printer/processes are computer controlled. The front of the film is fed into the printing gate. Sensors see the film and forward the film to the first frame. DX codes on the edge of the film are read by the printer and the film channel is selected accordingly to give the optimum result. Each frame is printed one at a time, the photographic paper is advanced each time and when there is sufficient frames printed the paper automatically advances into the paper processor. The paper passes through a developer, bleach/fix, a wash and then dried. The prints are then cut up and are collected in a bundle. From here a smaller machine is used to cut the negatives into fours and sleeved to protect them.
The final job is the put the negatives with the prints into a wallet and into the processing envelope. The order is then priced and placed into a rack or draw waiting for the customer to collect.
The price of a digital minilab can reach up to $250,000. The most popular brands are KIS, Noritsu, Doli and Fuji.. Recently, by the end of 2005, two manufacturers, Agfa and Konica went out of business. Minilab Factory GmbH took over the renowned minilab branch of Agfa in 2006. Gretag on the other hand was bought by KIS Photo Me Group during the early part of the year 2000.
[edit] Digital minilab
A digital minilab is a computer printer that uses traditional chemical photographic processes to make prints of digital images. Photographs are input to the digital minilab using a built-in film scanner that captures images from negative and positive photographic films (including mounted slides), flatbed scanners image scanner, a kiosk that accepts CD-ROMs or memory cards from a digital camera, or a website that accepts uploads. The operator can make many corrections such as brightness or color saturation, contrast, scene lighting color correction, sharpness and cropping. A laser or Micro Light Valve Array (MLVA) then exposes photographic paper with the image, which is then processed by the minilab just as if it had been exposed from a negative.
Digital minilabs are too expensive for typical home use, but many stores purchase or lease them to offer photo printing services to their customers. The resulting photographs have the same quality and durability as traditional photographs since the same chemical processes are used. This is often better than can be achieved by typical home inkjet printers. The printing cost is often less than ink jet printers for small photographs, but often not for larger ones.
