Digital BW, The Print

"mrjimbo" wrote:
>
> ... Film still is one of if not the best acrhive materials ...

And it is a coated substrate.  

>...The information possible on a paper print will never come close to that in a raw digital file nor  a ...

Particularly if the image size is limited to letter size, which is not irrational given the difficulty of storing larger prints.

> Digital negatives are another option ..I've been fooling with these to make contact prints and am really enjoying the process ...


In my transition from the wet darkroom I first used a variety of digital negatives.  The high end commercial ones can be impressive, but also impressively expensive -- really not an option for me.

I was depressed at the quality of the inkjet negatives I tried because my goal was to be able to enlarge an 8x10 negative to 16x20 inches, which was my standard display print size.  Inkjet negatives of the day just could not be enlarged.

What I found that was the poor man's film recorder that allowed 2x enlargement of an 8x10 negative was the Fujix digital printer.  Samy's in nearby Santa Barbara had one.  It made 400 true RGB pixel per inch images that could be on overhead transparency substrate -- for $8!  So, for a few bucks I had an 8x10 B&W negative that would enlarge to 16x20 and look very good. 

I'm going to see how close I can come to that with a 1.5 pl inkjet and a full 6-dilution glossy carbon ink.  A 720 dpi file can contain 14.4 lp/mm resolution.  All we need in a final 16x20 for it to look sharp is 3 - 5 lp/mm.  So, the 720 dpi 8x10 file is fine. 

When I look at a paper print of a 720 dpi resolution test strip I can see with a scanner those 14.4 lp/mm lines, but they are very ragged and barely visible.  It's close, but what I'm seeing on paper just won't cut it for enlargement.  So, onward to the glossy substrates.  I've ordered some of the Pictorico white gloss film.  I'll do an initial test Ilford's best today.

>... I think it boils down to how well we execute our options for our personal needs..


Since inkjet is my preferred output now, I'm aiming at the best way to use this technology, with very affordable inputs, to accomplish the goal.  

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com