Custom Printer Color Codes

I bought the new HP T120 printer specially to print 60" long photos. As can be seen in the previous post, the Monet garden came out pretty good. However, I did run across some limitations. The documentation did not support canvas media which is what I use. By not supporting a given type of media, that means that there aren't 'color codes' that tell the printer how to represent colors. In addition, the paper cutter wasn't powerful enough to cut the heavy cotton canvas I had been using. Information from another HP T120 owner indicated that he was able to use a lighter weight polyester woven material. I found that the cutter was able to trim this material. However, I was not pleased with the colors I was getting on a number of different photos. When reading a detailed article on printing in Outdoor Photographer, I ran across a discussion about 'custom color codes,' There are companies that can taylor your printer to your paper. They supply 'targets' that can be printed and sent to these folks which are scanned from which a digital file of codes is created. When the codes are installed on your computer, more accurate colors are printed. I tried several of these companies before I was satisfied with the results. Above is my latest print of the Chateau de Chambord which is framed and on my wall in my home.

Printing Large Photos

Attempting to print photos up to 65" is not for the faint-of-heart.  I wanted to print the panorama of Monet's garden, shown in the previous post, at 16 by 60 inches.  Gallery wrapping adds another 4" in each direction.  I have been printing with an older 24" printer for several years with some success.  I generally print 18 by 24" photos for standard framing.  However, even though a sheet of paper 20 by 64" could be fed into the older printer, it failed to initiate a print job.  No information was available from HP since the printer was out of warranty.  I then bought a slightly newer but used 24" printer which would accommodate a roll of paper.  Unfortunately, it was damaged in shipment and couldn't be repaired. I contributed it to Got Junk.

I then bought a new HP t120 shown in the top photo.  It is wireless-capable and can print from any computer, iPad or iPhone in my home.  After considerable trial and error I have been able to print 20 by 64" photos on canvas suitable for gallery wrapping, below.

Panoramas

This panorama of Monet's lily pond in Giverny France, was taken with my Sony A-7 camera in about 30 seconds.  The camera takes several photos as you sweep across the area and stitches them together in real time.  Obviously, it works much better with a tripod, but in a typical touring environment it isn't always possible to set up a tripod.  This capability, also available in a limited sense on the iPhone, has added an entire new dimension, so to speak, to travel photography.

Beginning of a new era

With the money from the sale of the Hasselblad, I was easily able to buy the newest Sony SLR, the A7 and a Zeiss F4 zoom lens.  It is a new design of mirrorless construction and full-size 24 Mpix sensor.  The camera has App-capability that allows control from the iPad and iPhone. With the addition of image stabilization, this camera is capable of amazing photos. The photo was taken in a recent trip to Copenhagen.

End of an era

It is with great sadness that I am taking my prize possession down to ship off to a buyer; my digital Hasselblad 203FE. But, the time has long passed for the "white elephant" I'm sorry to say. So I am selling it while there is at least some value left. Goodbye old friend. I've had some enjoyable times with you. That probably spells the end of this blog as well, for what it's worth. As near as I can tell, it's never been looked at by a single person.

The 350 mm lens

The lens in the photo is the 350 mm FE lens made specifically for the 201/203/205 series camera. Officially, it is a Zeiss Tele-Tessar FE 4/350 mm. The 4 indicates the maximum aperture opening of F4, a very fast lens. Although Hasselblad made a 500 mm lens, it was only F8 and did not have the electronics of the FE camera. They also made a 350 CFE lens, which did have the electronics, but was a slower F5.6 lens. Because the FE cameras have a focal plane shutter, the 350 FE has no shutter which is the reason it only works on the three FE cameras. Like the FE camera, most of these lens have been discontinued, are only available used, and are very hard to find. For digital usage, the 350 lens effectively becomes much longer because the 36 mm sensor captures only a portion of the 60 mm original film size; almost 600 mm!

Hasselblad with Gigapan

The Gigapan is a robotic device that increments a camera in order to take a series of pictures that can be stitched together to produce a panoramic photo or just a large photo. Originally, only small cameras could be used due to the limitations of the Gigapan device. More recently, however, a larger Gigapan, called the Pro, has been produced that can accomodate SLRs of almost any large camera. With a minor change to the camera attachment, the Hasselblad 203FE can be used with the Gigapan Pro. An example of a Gigapan picture made with the Hasselblad 203FE digital can be seen at http://gigapan.org/gigapans/83021/.