Backlit film

[Shadowman]

http://www.uscutter.com/static/PDFs/...hDataSheet.pdf

Has anyone used this film, any concerns, printing tips? Has anyone compared visual quality to standard electronic frames?

[Mike Buckley]

When I was selling printing services, the company I worked for used their regular color printers to print on film, though not the Kodak product you mentioned. Sorry, but I don't remember the brand. The prints looked great. However, I never saw them displayed on a light box because the prints were designed to be used as overlays positioned on top of an opaque print.

[Manfred M]

Not on this specific film, but on other inkjet compatible film from a number of other sources. I'm going to stay away from writing about light boxes as this is a whole topic onto itself.

1. The resolution and gamut are determined by the printer. If you are using a decent colour photo printer, the gamut will exceed the AdobeRGB colour space. Canon and HP printers have a native resolution of 300 dpi and Epson ones are 360 dpi, which will totally exceed any high end computer screen, much less a relatively low resolution electronic picture frame that tend to not even handle sRGB at very low resolution.

2. The film has to be handled by the edges. Get a fingerprint on the print surface, you get to start over. I recommend lint-free cotton gloves when handling the film. I found feeding it in the printer a bit trickier than paper as it is not as stiff as photo paper and a bit shinier, so the printer's pinch rollers did not always grip it properly.

3. The film, especially the side you print on, scratches quite easily, which is why they recommend lamination. I found I was never all that good doing laminations and ended up with a bubble, so it would usually take me a couple of tries to get it right.

[Shadowman]

When I was selling printing services, the company I worked for used their regular color printers to print on film, though not the Kodak product you mentioned. Sorry, but I don't remember the brand. The prints looked great. However, I never saw them displayed on a light box because the prints were designed to be used as overlays positioned on top of an opaque print.

Mike,

Thanks for response, I have a friend who has a light box and wants prints made to display on the box mounted on the wall. Made me wonder what papers work best, definitely don't want something with a brand name water mark. I have a roll of Epson paper which doesn't have the mark so that could work.

[Shadowman]

Not on this specific film, but on other inkjet compatible film from a number of other sources. I'm going to stay away from writing about light boxes as this is a whole topic onto itself.

1. The resolution and gamut are determined by the printer. If you are using a decent colour photo printer, the gamut will exceed the AdobeRGB colour space. Canon and HP printers have a native resolution of 300 dpi and Epson ones are 360 dpi, which will totally exceed any high end computer screen, much less a relatively low resolution electronic picture frame that tend to not even handle sRGB at very low resolution.

2. The film has to be handled by the edges. Get a fingerprint on the print surface, you get to start over. I recommend lint-free cotton gloves when handling the film. I found feeding it in the printer a bit trickier than paper as it is not as stiff as photo paper and a bit shinier, so the printer's pinch rollers did not always grip it properly.

3. The film, especially the side you print on, scratches quite easily, which is why they recommend lamination. I found I was never all that good doing laminations and ended up with a bubble, so it would usually take me a couple of tries to get it right.

Hi Manfred,

Thanks for the response, see post #4 for reasoning of post. Yes there are so many issues to contend with keeping the surface clean, just keeping the feeder/rollers is a chore and misfeeds and having the feeder grip the film will definitely be a headache. I have a decent printer (hp 7960( and I have profiled the device; found out the standard black cartridge doesn't handles blacks that well; will have to profile again with the photogray cartridge. Additionally, hopefully I'll be able to fin ICC profile for the paper and may have to consider using a printer with dye-based ink. I've got a few months to research so I don't have to make judgments hastily.

[Shadowman]

I found a few sources for the film, the thickness is compatible with my inkjet printer just to do some trials. I've been looking into wide format printers but put the purchase on hold as I'm researching costs of outsourcing.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...s=backlit+film