Welcome to DigitalCprint.com. We have attempted to compile a list of frequently asked questions here for your review; if you do not see your question listed here, please email admin@proofnewyork.com and someone will return your email ASAP. Or just call 1-800-656-1982 M-F 9am-6pm.
In short a C-print is a color (chromogenic) photographic print. For a full explanation on the definition of a C-print, please see the link here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromogenic_color_print
A digital C-print is a color photographic print 'imaged' from a digital 'raster' image file such as a TIFF or JPEG.
What type of Digital-C print do you offer?
We use an Italian made printer called a Polilettronica. The design and quality is similar to the more well known LightJet. We believe this is simply the best digital C-printer available . The main advantage of the "Poli" over the LightJet is less labor involved in producing a print which means faster turn around at less cost while maintaining the highest quality print. The Poli also uses solid state lasers offering more consistent and reliable print from print to print.
I like my InkJet printer, why should I use a digital-C?
We love our ink jets printers too. Our sister site: cmykproof.com uses the latest Epson InkJet technology along with the industry leading GMG rip to produce extremely accurate CMYK proofs. However, when it comes to photographic fine art printing we would argue there is nothing quite like a real photographic print. If digital photography has been leaving you feeling flat. It might be time to see how your digital images look on photographic media. We would also argue that because we keep our rates low, they are comparable in price to inkjet prints when you account for the cost of ink and paper, and not to mention your time.
Are your prints archival?
Yes, every print is archival up to 100 years, depending on how the prints are stored (in or out of light).
Are your prints suitable for fine art exhibition?
We offer the highest quality archival photographic print available. They would hang well in any art gallery, and and can be sold as archival chromogenic prints. We work with many celebrated fine art and commercial photographers and have printed many prints displayed and sold at exhibition.
What are the differences between LightJet, Lambda, Chromira and 'Poli' prints?
They all work on the same principle, light exposing photographic media which is then chemically processed. The Poli and LightJet are arguably the sharpest of the 4 technologies because the paper is imaged or exposed with lasers while the print is held stationary (instead of moving, e.g. with Chomira and Lambda). The Poli has a few other advantages, besides being the latest technology of the 4 printers, it is the only digital C-printer capable of imaging 16 bit color depth image files. It is also the only high end digital C printer with an inline RA-4 processor, the advantage being it is less labor intensive than say a LightJet to produce the same quality print. For this reason we are able to offer these amazingly high quality photographic prints at inexpensive rates.
What type of paper do you use?
We use Fuji Crystal Archive for it's archival properties and large color gamut. We offer gloss, matte, and deep matte. We also offer Kodak Endura Metallic.
What is Deep matte?
This is a beautiful matte paper, with a look similar to uncoated paper stock. Blacks are fairly flat, but color take on a water color look.
What is Kodak Endura Metallic?
Kodak Endura Metallic is a high gloss paper with a silver like paper base. This is popular with many commercial and fashion photographers who really want their images to "pop."
We recommend you calibrate you monitor with a spectrophotometer, e.g. an EyeOne. if you want consistent and predictable color results from your prints. Depending how you will be viewing your prints, we recommend calibrating your monitor white point accordingly. E.g. If you are viewing your prints under a traditional viewing booth rated at a color temperature of 5000K, we recommend you calibrate at the same. If you are viewing your prints under daylight, we recommend 6500K.
What profile should I use as my working color space?
We recommend processing your files and making all your color edits in AdobeRGB. It has become the standard for wide gamut RGB images. sRGB is also good, but has a smaller gamut, and primarily only intended for web use. There are other popular working color spaces, e.g. ProPhotoRGB which has an even larger gamut than Adobe. This is fine too. AdobeRGB is a more standardized and commonly used profile. Of course if you are working with RAW images, e.g. in Adobe Lightroom you are keeping your image in the camera profile until processing out to AdobeRGB (or other).
What are your custom paper profiles for?
Our custom profiles are available in our color tutorial section, according to paper type. We aim to hold very tight tolerances for our prints (i.e. our prints don't move from print to print). In fact consistency in our print is one of our main goals in running our print lab. This allows you to make predictable and accurate prints every time you place an order. This also means our profiles don't change frequently. The main purpose for providing these profiles is to allow you to "soft proof" your image in Adobe Photoshop (or other image editing software with Soft proof capabilities) prior to placing your order.
What is soft proofing?
Simply put, a way to preview the gamut differences from your working profile (e.g. AdobeRGB) versus our printer gamut (printer profile). Using soft proofing lets you accurately predict how you image will print on our printer, on whichever paper you select, assuming of course a calibrated monitor. You can soft proof your print by selecting our printer profile as your "proof" profile in Photoshop (or other image editing program with soft proofing capability.) For more information please see our tutorial on RGB soft proofing.
Do I need to convert my files to you profile before uploading?
No, we recommend keeping your files in AdobeRGB or sRGB and we will convert them for you to the correct printer profile before printing.
I see you offer "straight" pro prints and "RAW" pro prints, what's he difference?
A "straight" pro print means we simply take your JPG or TIFF file, and convert it from your working space (e.g. AdobeRGB) to the appropriate printer profile, and print. Assuming you have a fairly well calibrated monitor, the print you receive should be fairly close to what you are expecting. We understand most of our customers spend a lot of time adjusting their image to their liking, we don't try to mess with this. Our goal is simply to provide consistent and reliable color in the highest quality print. With our "RAW" pro print we have allowed image makers to upload a .dng "RAW" file to order a print. We will process your image in Adobe Lightroom including light dodging and burning, to print your image optimally.
What kind of turnaround can I expect after placing my order?
We guarantee your print will ship within 24 hours, and often times the same day. However, if you are ordering a large number of prints it may take longer than for us to produce them.
I need my print today. What should I do?
Order the print on RUSH and we will place your proof to the top of the queue for printing.
I placed my order and it shipped same day; is this normal?
We will always try to print and ship your order as soon as possible, often within hours from when the order was placed, however because we cannot control our order volume, we cannot guarantee this speedy service all the time. As a rule we try to fill orders as fast as possible, usually the same day.
I'm in New York city; can I pick the print up myself?
Yes, just select this option when checking out. You will be emailed once your order is ready for pickup.
I'm in New York City; can you messenger the print to me?
Yes, just select this option in the checkout; you can specify a shipping address separate from the billing address, and we will messenger the print to this address.
I need one print to go to me, and another to go to my client. Can you do this?
Yes, just place the order for the print twice, changing the shipping options accordingly for each order.
Can I use my own FedEx account number?
We usually ship with our own account number and this shipping is billed to you on check out. However if you would like to use your own Fedex account number we are happy to help. Simply put your Fedex number in the notes field when placing your order, be sure to select "pick up at Proof Digital" to avoid a shipping charge. We will use your Fedex account number when we ship and you will be invoiced direct to your Fedex account.
To reference your tracking number from the site, select the "My Account" tab and you will see the tracking number for a particular order. By clicking on the number you can get the shipping status of your order directly from the FEDEX site.
We are conveniently located in downtown Manhattan, at 195 Chrystie St (between Stanton and Rivington) Suite 102A (down the long hall across from the elevator). DigitalCPrint.com is owned and operated by Proof Digital Inc.
How to I get to you?
Take the F train to Second Avenue, exit at Second Avenue, walk one block south to Stanton, and keep walking to 195 Chrystie St. Enter the building and walk down the hall; we are in the back of the building at Suite 102A. We are not affiliated with the film lab at the storefront of the same building.
Digitalcprint.com is brought to you by Proof Digital Inc.
