Minilab photo printers for RGB laser parts?

[KalleP]

Hi All,

I have read about various Minilab units that include RGB laser arrangemets that are used to expose silver halaide based colour print films to output regular pictures at a photo lab. This is supposed to give you memories to last a lifetime, this is much better than most inkjet photo printers that will give just decades of life. Some of the earliest BW photos are still with us from over 150 years ago but they used real paper (cotton) and real metals (platinum) to make that lasting impression.

However the consumer days of the minilab are numbered, just a few more advances in inkjet pigment and head technology and wet chemistry will get turned off in a big hurry. There are still a number of photo prinintg shops in every town (much fewer every year) and they use the latest minilabs. Some of the early digital minilabs must be getting scrapped as we speak.

These exposure units had 3 lasers (and some AOMs) and a bunch of expensive prisims, mirrors and beam combiners. I have seen analogue photo exposure units at scrap yards a few times and while they have cool bits, no lasers.

I suppose it could make a very neat starting point for an analogue modulated RGB laser scanner (they quote 12bit/4096 level grey scale resolution), my calculations indicate that it has to expose at 1741606 pixels per second. Not sure if this is good or fad for a show scanner but I think it is pretty good for a 12 bit AOM control.

I know Noritsu, Fujitsu still sell minilabs, Agfa, Kodak, Konica and perhaps others made exposure units in the past but not sure if they all had laser units, but there is a bit of variety.

Some of the AOMs are made by Panasonic.
One document says one can localise a faulty AOM by switching it between the colour channels, this means that they should be the same and capable of any wavelength modulation if required (no specific filter coatings). Some units had 2 or just one AOM.

Some of the laser are made by Showa Optronics and Shimadzu Corporation
Anyone know what sort of power the lasers are capable of?
Anyone know what the AOM/laser modulation bandwidth is (analogue by default) ?

Below a few interesting links:
http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat7239336.pdf Minilab Patent, 2 AOMs described in this patent
http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat7325929.pdf an interesting unrelated RGB projector patent
http://minilab.com.ua/en/repair/nori...unit_cleaning/ Neat pictures of the insides, lasers a few screens down, 3 AOMs on this model
http://www.photolabs.ru/manuals/tr/q...0materials.pdf Noritsu Koke training manual with other interesting details, not technical
http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.mx/...-green-aom-_JM A vendor for some of the laser part spares I think
http://www.minilablaser.com/parts.htm A spare parts supplier
http://serranorey.com/524-guns-for-laser-units.html spares for all sorts of minilabs, analogue zoom lenses as well
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!to...rs/5MxbwB5jSW8 a few prices on lasers and AOM's
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/grou...252867089.html More AOM amplifiers than you can shake a stick at

I hope I have helped to add a bit of my private research into the public domain in a useful location where others can find it.

[swamidog]

that is cool. i had no idea.

thank you for sharing!

Hi All,

I have read about various Minilab units that include RGB laser arrangemets that are used to expose silver halaide based colour print films to output regular pictures at a photo lab. This is supposed to give you memories to last a lifetime, this is much better than most inkjet photo printers that will give just decades of life. Some of the earliest BW photos are still with us from over 150 years ago but they used real paper (cotton) and real metals (platinum) to make that lasting impression.

However the consumer days of the minilab are numbered, just a few more advances in inkjet pigment and head technology and wet chemistry will get turned off in a big hurry. There are still a number of photo prinintg shops in every town (much fewer every year) and they use the latest minilabs. Some of the early digital minilabs must be getting scrapped as we speak.

These exposure units had 3 lasers (and some AOMs) and a bunch of expensive prisims, mirrors and beam combiners. I have seen analogue photo exposure units at scrap yards a few times and while they have cool bits, no lasers.

I suppose it could make a very neat starting point for an analogue modulated RGB laser scanner (they quote 12bit/4096 level grey scale resolution), my calculations indicate that it has to expose at 1741606 pixels per second. Not sure if this is good or fad for a show scanner but I think it is pretty good for a 12 bit AOM control.

I know Noritsu, Fujitsu still sell minilabs, Agfa, Kodak, Konica and perhaps others made exposure units in the past but not sure if they all had laser units, but there is a bit of variety.

Some of the AOMs are made by Panasonic.
One document says one can localise a faulty AOM by switching it between the colour channels, this means that they should be the same and capable of any wavelength modulation if required (no specific filter coatings). Some units had 2 or just one AOM.

Some of the laser are made by Showa Optronics and Shimadzu Corporation
Anyone know what sort of power the lasers are capable of?
Anyone know what the AOM/laser modulation bandwidth is (analogue by default) ?

Below a few interesting links:
http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat7239336.pdf Minilab Patent, 2 AOMs described in this patent
http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat7325929.pdf an interesting unrelated RGB projector patent
http://minilab.com.ua/en/repair/nori...unit_cleaning/ Neat pictures of the insides, lasers a few screens down, 3 AOMs on this model
http://www.photolabs.ru/manuals/tr/q...0materials.pdf Noritsu Koke training manual with other interesting details, not technical
http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.mx/...-green-aom-_JM A vendor for some of the laser part spares I think
http://www.minilablaser.com/parts.htm A spare parts supplier
http://serranorey.com/524-guns-for-laser-units.html spares for all sorts of minilabs, analogue zoom lenses as well
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!to...rs/5MxbwB5jSW8 a few prices on lasers and AOM's
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/grou...252867089.html More AOM amplifiers than you can shake a stick at

I hope I have helped to add a bit of my private research into the public domain in a useful location where others can find it.

[mixedgas]

Very older ones, Ie Canon, had individual lasers, some have RGB modules. RGB Powers are low, maybe 5-10 milliwatts after the AOM, usually with some reserve power for lifetime issues. Beam quality is usually exceptional.

Argon/532nm DPSS powers in say, platemakers, can be 100-200 mW, but most are your usual 5-10 mW of 488 or 457:

http://www.nationallaser.com/image_recording.php

http://www.nationallaser.com/laser_systems_500.php

RGB:

http://www.national-laser.com/repair-laser-fuji.htm
http://www.national-laser.com/repair-laser-noritsu.htm

I stopped hunting for them, I brought home too many 700 and 900 nm diodes in monster machines.

Steve

[jeejeedr]

The solid state lasers in eg the agfa's are real gems. But only rated like 0.1mW or so...
They are worth more as spare replacement parts (even broken) then for show use.
Been there, done that...
Also the optics are a pain in ******. Really nice stuff, but you can never find the schematic of the optical chain. Not even in the maintenance and repair manuals. So identifying the lenses, waveplates, ... is almost impossible.
The laser units are considered as replaceable as a whole...