[tonyzoc]

Back in the day I printed slides using the Cibachrome paper and chemistry. I had an 8x10 and 11x14 drum and motor base. The thing about Cibachrome that made it special was that the 3 colors existed as film layers on the paper...so the dyes were in the paper, not added by the developer. The colors were more vibrant and the prints were more archival than standard negative printing methods. Its a shame that this process is gone. Anyone else ever use it?

[TwoUptons]

I used it a couple of times through a local lab.
Wonderful stuff... but it wasn't cheap... I don't think I ever printed larger than 8x10 inches because of the cost.

Was Ilfochrome the same (or very similar)? I seem to recall it was pitched as "the same process without the licensing cost"...

-Eric

[garywakeling]

Yes I still have my drum roller and drum, wonderful bright colours , thanks for the happy memories

[Not a Number]

I used it back in the mid 80s. Incredible stuff, especially the high gloss "paper". The plastic backing is somewhat silverized so the prints would have a slight 3D effect. The few prints a still have haven't faded that I can tell in the 35+ years.

Expensive but the results were worth it.

[UncleVanya]

I used it a couple of times through a local lab.
Wonderful stuff... but it wasn't cheap... I don't think I ever printed larger than 8x10 inches because of the cost.

Was Ilfochrome the same (or very similar)? I seem to recall it was pitched as "the same process without the licensing cost"...

-Eric

Same process. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilfochrome#History

[3by2]

There was a slide film called Ilfochrome as well. I shot one film of it before it was discontinued.

I never did Cibachromes, lots of colour but no Cibachromes.

[Digitalis]

I used to do Ciba prints. The darkroom my family had* was suitably equipped to do dye transfer prints when I wanted more control over print tone with the benefit of higher D-max and stronger colours. I still have several old leatherbound portfolios of work that feature a few 11"X14 16"X20" colour darkroom prints, which were simultaneously fun and nerve wracking to make. It feels like I was doing that stuff a lifetime ago.


* which we closed down in the early 2000s when my grandparents passed away.

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Last edited by Digitalis; 07-07-2022 at 01:24 AM.

[One3rdEV]

Oh yes- loved printing in cibachrome! Back in 1986 it was the driver for me switching from 35mm Kodachrome 25 to Kodachrome 64 in 120mm format. Fuji 50 was the other film that me and my brother used for printing. I preferred the Kodachrome and he preferred the Fujichrome.

My understanding back then was that Ilford rated Cibachrome 'archival' based on its claimed fade resistance performance at 75 years.

[clickclick]

I used it and wish it was still around. It was easy enough to use, that I could get good results with a modest darkroom setup. I still have all the pieces.

[UncleVanya]

Oh yes- loved printing in cibachrome! Back in 1986 it was the driver for me switching from 35mm Kodachrome 25 to Kodachrome 64 in 120mm format. Fuji 50 was the other film that me and my brother used for printing. I preferred the Kodachrome and he preferred the Fujichrome.

My understanding back then was that Ilford rated Cibachrome 'archival' based on its claimed fade resistance performance at 75 years.

The wiki article only cited 29 years but I don't have any other sources to check.

[rpjallan]

I used to do a lot of Ciba/Ilfochrome in the ‘80’s & ‘90’s. I never had a proper darkroom so it was often a bit of a challenge. I didn’t like the cleaning/packing up much either.

I went digital after I saw a review of Epson’s very first Photo Printer in Practical Photography. They couldn’t believe the quality print they could get out of an inkjet.

Sold all my darkroom stuff & bought an Apple Mac, the printer & a film scanner.

I still have some old Cibachrome prints framed hanging on the wall & they are pristine.

[RobA_Oz]

I also did some Cibachrome printing 40 years ago (say it quickly or slowly, it doesn’t feel that long ago). It was a revelation in terms of the ease of process, compared with conventional colour in a hobby darkroom, at least.

[rpjallan]

Yes, 40 years ago, it’s a bit depressing really…

I have just remembered that I went to a Cibachrome demo with my father at a camera store in Parramatta back in the day. You got to take one of your own slides & they had a big darkroom set up. Then a guy took you in & went through the whole process & you came out with a colour print of your slide. My dad had been doing b&w processing & printing for many years & any colour photography we did was colour slide. Almost exclusively Kodachrome. My dad was so impressed he pretty much immediately bought the basics to get started straight away.

A bit off topic but I recently found half a dozen 6x6 slide films I took with my dad’s Yashica MAT124G many years ago. Mainly of central Australia & the Great Ocean Road. I did a couple of quick scans of a couple of frames just last night & they look outstanding…

[Dartmoor Dave]

I was always hopeless in the darkroom, so I never printed Cibachrome myself but did get quite a few done at the lab. I remember the quality of the results being very dependent on the original slide not being too contrasty, and in some cases an internegative print would give a better result than Cibachrome. But when Ciba was the right thing for the job it was beautiful, and of course those of you who made your own prints had much more control over the end result.

[fs999]

I still have 40 years old photos and they are as they were developed yesterday !
It's really a shame to not have such a fantastic print method today.
Does anyone here tried the new Ilforchrome print to metal or wood system of Ilford ?