HP Intros Large-Format Photo Negative App for Designjet Z3200 Photo Printer

Photo Printers

Palo Alto, CA—HP’s new Large-Format Photo Negative application was developed to allow professional photographers using the HP Designjet Z3200 photo printer series to produce fine-art quality prints or hardcopy image archives.

The application is generated with a free software package and the HP Designjet Z3200 photo printer series, which enable photographers to use a digital file from a film scan or digital capture to produce a photo negative on a transparent substrate. Large-format photo negatives can be used as masters to produce high-quality prints in a range of classic, alternative photographic processes. These include monochrome or color processes, such as cyanotype, photogravure, platinotypes, dye-transfer, gum bichromate and carbro.

“HP’s breakthrough innovation gives fine art photography printmakers an easier way to transform their digital files into high-quality, physical originals of their work, addressing one of the key needs we heard from this community,” said Santiago Morera, vice president and general manager, Designjet Large-Format Printing Solutions, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. “We’re committed to helping professional photographers simplify and accelerate the process for producing, showcasing and archiving their art.”

While writing on film from digital data is not new, this application was developed by HP Color Scientist and photographer Angel Albarran to offer a simple, affordable option. Any photographer with an HP Designjet Z3200 photo printer, the correct substrate and the free software package from HP can produce these photo negatives. The software package will be released at Photokina in September.

Elliott Erwitt, a Magnum photographer known for his black-and-white candid shots, recently used the app to create limited editions of some of his most iconic photos. With the large-format negatives, he was able to produce 30×40-inch platinum prints of four of his images on cotton paper, including “California Kiss.”

“Platinum printing is the Rolls Royce of photographic reproduction and has traditionally been limited to modest dimensions,” said Erwitt. “These new large-format platinum prints with their unusual size are a Rolls Royce and Ferrari combined. They are a new and unique way of seeing and experiencing familiar iconic images. The resulting four pilot photographs have a luminosity that is not achievable with any other process old or new.”

More information about HP Designjet solutions is available at hp.com/go/designjet and on the HP for Designers Facebook page at facebook.com/HPdesigners. hp.com