Another printing question

[badgerdad]

There's lightjet, inkjet, iris, laser, and the list goes on. What do you call the process that projects a digital image directly from a CD onto regular photographic paper, much the same way (or perhaps identical to the way) that a negative is printed? Because the image is produced on regular photo paper, it's cheaper, quicker and I'm told far more archival than any of the other methods mentioned. And it looks pretty good too. As always, thanks for the help.

[stopbath]

I'm not sure about the name of the printing process to get digital images onto photographic papers.

As for archival ink jet, Canon is 25 years, and HP has a 6 ink printer that the image should last 75 years. Epson also has archival quality inks.

[john_houghton]

badgerdad wrote: What do you call the process that projects a digital image directly from a CD onto regular photographic paper, much the same way (or perhaps identical to the way) that a negative is printed?
This quote from Shutterfly describes one popular process:

Q: What technology does Shutterfly use to print my photographs?
A: Shutterfly uses state-of-the-art Fuji Frontier digital printers designed for professional photofinishers. These printers expose Fuji's Crystal Archive photographic paper using red, green, and blue lasers to produce the sharpest prints available. The exposed photographic paper is chemically processed in the same way as in traditional photo labs. These printers, combined with Shutterfly's proprietary imaging technology, result in the best possible prints from your pictures.

John

[badgerdad]

John - Thanks for finding that. The lab I found uses Kodak equipment and paper but it sounds like the same process. Right now if someone asked me how my prints are made, I'd have to say "I use a state-of-the-art Kodak digital printer designed for professional photofinishers..." The owner of the lab gave me the same kind of answer when I asked him. Maybe there isn't a simple one or two word term to describe this.