Now that we can batch scan thumbnails?
As far as I know, the only use of contact prints was to evaluate which ones were keepers and worth enlarging. I've made contact prints in the darkroom twice. Once for black and white and once for color. Never again. Reason being, when I go to my local rental darkroom to print, I have already decided which frames to print.
I go to print once a quarter roughly. I only have to go once every three months because I can evaluate my keepers via my scans. I don't have to make contact prints and then decide. I feed an entire roll of 36 exposures into my scanner and it spits out the scans. With my flatbed I've tried making digital contact sheets before.
but then isn't that exactly the same as looking at all my full resolution scans as thumbnails in lightroom?
Or maybe the thumbnails of my scans are even better? because I can enlarge them?
If it wasn't for scanning I'd be going to the darkroom a lot more, especially for negative films. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe not. Maybe I'd shoot more carefully if it wasn't this easy.
In any case, I shoot a 100% analog cameras, but love the hybrid workflow. I don't print any scanned images. All my prints, except for slide film are wet prints. The scanning process does however simply life a lot. For me it gives me a quick and easy way to evaluate my shots and pick keepers.