Digital BW, The Print

> Imaging theory says to send data to the printer driver in 1/2 or 1/3
> increments of upper resolution dpi.

Hi Keith,

Where did you get that information from?  I believe this has been a refuted
myth, at least as far as today's Epson printers go.

> Ergo, the magic numbers for a 1270/870  are 360, 480, and 720 dpi... (at
> 1440 dpi print resolution) or for a 1280 at 1440 dpi print resolution

I do not believe there are any magic numbers for printer resolution in many
of today's printers, and certainly not Epsons.  It is entirely dependant on
the printer driver, and what halftone algorithm is being used.

> The printer driver will resize images anyway. The reason for sending
> images in 1/2 and 1/3 multiples is to avoid problems with artifact
> creation when the driver resizes..

Have you personally seen these?  I have an 1160, 3000 and 1270.  I have
tried the magic resolution theory hundreds of times, with both the Epson
driver and the Cone Piezo driver (on the 1160 and 3000), and neither I, or
anyone I've shown prints to, can see a difference in odd resolutions vs
"magic" resolutions.  Also, others that I've suggested perform this test
have come to the same conclusion.

Resizing the image to make the "magic" resolutions degrades the image data.
When you print, as you seem to know, the driver has to run an algorithm on
the data to determine the halftone patterns.  Why process the image data
twice, instead of just once?

Regards,

Austin