I took the trouble to throw up a piece of black cloth (left over from the view camera) and to try and remember how in the world the A640 worked. I’m not kidding. When I first picked it up, I had a hell of a time remembering how to turn the flash off. And then getting color temp. even close… Anyway - this still probably doesn’t tell you everything you want to know - but that’s it for portfolio pics - and just call me if you want to view the thing.
I had been working with the flex-hinges, where the print is attached to the hinge which then goes into the screwmount. But I had wanted to see how the paper looked in the polypropylene sheet protectors. And they arrived today. Very impressive. You get protection, and that slight look of being under glass; and now it is practical to do front and back (i.e. you get facing pages). So that’s how I’m going with the portfolio. And you can hand it around without worrying about people drooling on the prints.
Here’s what the production costs:
Landscape Machina Kit (which includes a nylon cover, extender screwposts so you can go to 20 or more sheets), comes with 10 sheets (each holds two prints), landscape, letter size:
$87.75 (kit)
Paper and ink (silver rag) comes to about $2.00 per sheet. So for forty prints thats:
$ 80.00
You need 10 extra protectors:
$18.00
Total: $185.75
If you want to produce a portfolio with only 20 prints, then say $105.
And if you want to use cheaper paper - then you can bring the cost down by another $40 or so.
The intriguing part of all this is that when you move up in size the portfolio covers etc. aren’t the real expense - it’s the paper and ink.
Anyway - it’s a nice system - and I’m setup with inDesign so that I can print out one portfolio at a time. But it is time consuming - and stuff happens. Now I’m off to the darkroom (I mean bathroom) to develop stuff from yesterday.
