Digital BW, The Print

On 09/22/2013 05:06 PM, jimbo wrote:
> Question .. I have seen work off 4 color Indigo's .. and it's not bad
> but the fact is they use toners rather then inks.. so how do you guys
> sit with that.. Realistically I can't see how they could hit the PPM
> numbers their getting with inks but with the little bit I have been
> exposed  to Toners can't go where inks go ..well at least not yet I
> understand and certainly permanence has to suffer.
> I realize that the whole concept is about high end production for these
> machines but it's at a price.. They are becoming so popular and peoples
> brains are getting numbed by lesser quality but good prices.. Won't this
> technology contribute somewhat to accepting a lesser quality output?
> jimbo

Today's best image print quality is not available in any other print 
technology but silver halide/chromogene and inkjet. Some photo magazines 
are praised for the quality of their printed images, mainly offset 
printing. B&W more often in Duotone. In the past B&W with rotogravure 
had a good reputation. If both versions of an image are shown; the 
magazine one and the inkjet print, it would surprise me if the 
viewer/customer would favor the offset quality. And get doubts about the 
skills of the inkjet printer operator if the offset print is chosen.

Photobooks do not exceed the image quality of the best photo magazines 
right now but could become equal in my opinion. The liquid toner process 
of the HP Indigo's is quite capable. On the horizon I see web or sheet 
presses with inkjet technology for the same tasks but even then there 
will be a difference to what we can achieve on our machines with the 
best papers, pigment inks, lower speeds and above all the right skills. 
Since 2009, Cohber Press in Rochester has a Kodak Nexpress (web inkjet) 
installed as well for photobook production. Inexpensive photobooks will 
be produced on fast printers and with fast inline bookbinding 
technology. That bookbinding side may be a major factor in price making 
and harder to compete with.

Yes there is price erosion when canvas prints are made on (eco)solvent 
printers. But did you ever compare one of your own canvas prints with 
the solvent product? They simply are not on that quality level and I 
think mainly because the focus of companies that make them is price, 
price, price and not as a result of the technology used. This had an 
impact on the canvas print imago but I do not see it happen in prints on 
quality papers. The bottom price level of photos is still made with 
chromogene prints. Are we playing in that field?

We wouldn't be at the average color quality of today if customers 
favored the color quality of the 1950's. We are way beyond that already. 
The real competition on quality for us is the tablet display, customers 
will get used to that image quality. The fixed sRGB "calibration" of the 
tablet displays is consistent and good if compared to the desktop 
monitor color anarchy. Wonder what people think with the tablet in their 
lap, a Blurb photobook on the table and an ecosolvent canvas print on 
the wall. That is happening in the living room.

-- 
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst Dinkla

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
December 2012: 500+ inkjet media paper white spectral plots.