Using the Polaroid HR6000 Digital Film Recorder
The purpose of a film scanner is to convert an analog
medium (film) into a digital one. What do you do when you need to go
the other way and convert digital information into film?
Although computerized projection systems are reducing the need for such
conversions, the traditional 35mm slide presentation has a lot going for
it. It is usually easier to lug a tray of slides and a slide projector
around (and find a place to plug it in) than it is to carry a laptop and
an LCD projector, plug them (plus the mouse) in, untangle all the cords,
boot the system, defrag the hard drive, remove the viruses, find the
file - you get the picture. And lest you forget, the el cheapo 35mm
slide projector with all bells and whistles costs about $50 on ebay vs.
over a thousand for a basic LCD data projector!
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The Polaroid HR 6000SE/F was
introduced in 2004, featuring an ultra quiet cooling fan for consistent
CRT temperature, vital for reliable colors throughout the imaging
process.
The following steps for printing
assume you are using PowerPoint and that you are sitting at whichever
computer the Polaroid unit is attached to. Instructions for printing to
a Polaroid unit over the network follow.
| 1. Start RasterPlus
From the Start:Programs menu choose
RasterPlus |
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2. Configure the Queue:
- Select Edit: Queue Properties from
the menu.
- Select the Transform tab and set it
up as follows:
- Select the Server tab and set it up
as follows:
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| 4. Select the Device tab and set it up as
follows:
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5. From the Device Tab, click on the
Options Button
and set it up as follows:
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| 6. Close the options window and click on
the Advanced Button in the Device tab. Set up the advanced
options as shown.
Do NOT
close RasterPlus. Leave it open and proceed to the next step.
You can Minimize RasterPlus by clicking on the "-" icon in the
upper right hand corner. |
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3. Set up the Printer
Options:
1. Open My Computer and double click
on the Printers folder. Select the appropriate Polaroid
printer and Right click on it. Choose
Properties on the menu that appears.
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2. Click on the General tab and check
the settings:
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3. Click on the Details tab and check
the settings:
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4. Click on the Paper tab and check
the settings:
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5. Click on the PostScript tab and
check the settings:
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6. Click on the Device Options tab and
check the settings:
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7. Click on the Graphics tab and check
the settings:
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8. Once all the settings have been
checked, click OK
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4. Printing
from PowerPoint:
- Start PowerPoint and check to be sure
that your presentation is ready to print.
- Use the File:Page Setup Dialog
(below) to ensure that the setup is for 35mm slides
(otherwise there may be blank areas on either side of your
slide.
- Go through your presentation
slide-by-slide to ensure that reformatting to fit on the
slides has not altered the appearance of the slides.
- Good slides will not have the
information too close to the edge of the slide. The printer
tends to lose a little of the information at the edges; in
addition, the focus at the edges of the slide is often not
as crisp. Be sure to leave some "empty" space around your
graphics and text.
- For more hints on slides,
click here.
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6. When you are ready to print, use
the File:Print menu to bring up the print window (see image
to right). Be sure that the correct printer is selected (the
Polaroid is rarely the default) and that you are printing
the slides you want to print. It may well be that you have
simply made corrections to a few slides and don't really
need to print all of them.
7. When everything is ready, click OK.
This will print the file, a process that may take a few
minutes.
8. Locate and Click on the RasterPlus
icon at the bottom of the screen:
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| 5. Checking the Output
and Printing the File
The file is not printing at this point.
You can now use RasterPlus to verify that your slides will print
correctly.
1. Once RasterPlus is opened, you
should see your file listed in the queue. You should also
see a toolbar with a magnifying glass allowing you to
Preview All Files. Click on the magnifying glass.
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2. In the preview window, check the
slides carefully (you will only see the last 8 or so). Look
for any potential problems. For instance, in the image
below, you can see while spaces to the right and the left of
the slide. This occurred because the Page:Setup dialog in
PowerPoint was not used to size the slides for a 35-mm
slide. Instead, the setting was left at the default, for an
on-screen slide show. In this context, "on-screen" means on
the computer screen, not on the projection screen. If this
happens to you, click on your file in the RasterPlus queue
and hit the delete key to delete it. Then, go back to
PowerPoint, change the page setup, recheck the formatting of
each slide, and try printing to RasterPlus again.
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| 3. Load the Polaroid Unit. To do this,
slide the cover latch to the left and allow the back to drop
down on its hinge. Place the film canister at the top, with the
"axle" of the canister facing to the left. Pull the end of the
film down to the white arrow near the bottom of the camera
(there are printed instructions there to show you how far).
Close the camera back. The film should advance and the LCD panel
should say something like "Exposure 1 of 24"
A word on film: To get fast, great
results, use Kodak Ektachrome 200 speed slide film. Okay...it's
necessarily the best, but it is
 widely
available, the printers have a setting for it, and it is a
reasonable compromise between image quality and printing speed.
You could get 100-speed slide film, but it will take twice as
long to print. You could get AGFA or Fuji slide film, but if you
couldn't find the film in the recorder's database, you would run
the risk of the slides being slightly off color. The film
normally comes in either 24 or 36 exposure rolls. |
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4. If the slides look OK, use the
File:Print Queue menu item to begin printing.
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| Printing will
take some time. On the HR 6000, expect it to take at least 3-4
minutes per slide, or about 2.5 hours at a minimum to expose a
roll of 36 exposures (1.5 hours for 24 exposures). Watch the
process for the first slide or two; then you can leave and come
back when you expect the slides to be done. If you are working
on a workgroup computer, you will want to place a sign on the
computer saying that it is printing and that no one should use
it in the meantime. To avoid inconveniencing people who need to
use that computer, it might be a good idea to plan to expose
your pictures overnight. |
5. When printing is done, rewind the
film by gently pressing the rewind button on the top of the
camera and holding it for several seconds.
6. With the film rewound, open the
camera back and remove the film.
7. Shut down the computer and all
peripherals.
8. Developing can be done at most
photo labs, but look for one advertising E6
services...turnaround can be as little as three hours!
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