Digital BW, The Print

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Gulstene" <kevin@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 11:27 PM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Dynamic Range Definitions and Print Tones


> While the heavy weights take a well deserved breather I thought I'd throw
in
> my two cents.
>
> <Geek mode on>
> Dynamic range has a very specific meaning to people involved in signal
> processing and designers of optical, audio and many other types of
> equipment.  That definition is just as Austin has stated.  Dynamic Range
> (DR) = 10log10 (smallest signal/largest signal).  Some of the confusion
> comes from the definition of the numerator.  The "smallest signal" is not
> the least dense or the least grey, it is the difference in density (or
> greyness or whatever you are measuring) between one sample and another
which
> is the smallest possible amount greyer (or more dense or whatever you are
> measuring).
>
> If you accept the definition above, then Dynamic Range does describe the
> number of intermediate values.  The number of intermediate values is the
> range of values divided by the "smallest signal".

Kevin,

Thank you for the nice concise explaination. My concern with a print is that
the "smallest possible amount grayer" will go to zero if the print or medium
is continuous in tone which renders the expression meaningless for this
application.
>
> <Geek mode off>
>
> Having said that, it seems to me that a perfectly meaningful and
unambiguous
> (in any ordinary sense of those words) conversation can be had between two
> printers using "dynamic range" and "density range" interchangeably to
> describe the range of tones produced by an ink/paper/workflow combination.

Absolutely and this has been a common practice for quite some time.

Martin