Digital BW, The Print

Nicholas, there are also 5 different MIS black inks to confuse you even more.....

Jerry





Nicholas Hartmann wrote:

> >> 2) In addition to the dots, the VM set displays what I can only call
> >> "posterization": areas that, on the screen, show subtle variations in tone,
> >> are rendered on paper as comparatively large patches of a single tone.
>
> >What printer are you using again?
>
> An 1160, same as yours.
>
> >I think something must be off in your workflow. I have had times where I got
> >this posterization in my prints, and I'm trying hard to remember what was
> >the fix, but it was something in my workflow, like a proper driver setting.
> >Try printing a 21 step grayscale. All your steps should separate distinctly.
> >The system is capable of better results than you are getting! My VT system
> >handles the "Piezo challenge" test and yours should too.
>
> It's very possible that something is cockeyed in either software or
> hardware. I printed using exactly the (very simple) workflow specified by
> Paul Roark: convert from grayscale to RGB, load one of the VT curves, watch
> the image go all red, then print in color at 1440 dpi. For what it's worth,
> I have noticed the same partial posterizing and dots when printing
> grayscale as color using the native Epson driver (without RGB conversion or
> colorizing curves). I don't think there's anything functionally wrong with
> the printer: nozzle checks are now perfect, and my alignment is within one
> digit of standard. Maybe MIS got the inks mixed up? I was ultra-careful to
> fill the right inks into the right cartridge chambers.
>
> >But do double check everything with your MIS VT setup, and make sure you've
> >got the latest curves for your printer.
>
> How late is latest? And do my RGB settings make any difference? All the
> color aspects of Photoshop and digital printing make my brain hurt, so I
> just convert from grayscale to RGB without worrying about _which_
> particular RGB.
>
> Unless of course you just really
> >like that gritty look.
>
> Not gritty, but with grain as an element of the image: think of biting into
> a not-quite-ripe pear...
>
> Why did you go to the black-only approach over
> >printing grayscale with all the color inks in the first place?
>
> Because that's _really_ funny-looking: not just posterization, but the
> presence of all that color (at the limit of perception, admittedly) in what
> purports to be a B&W image, AND the prospect that each one of those colors
> will fade and color-shift in different directions at different rates, gave
> me an instant headache.
>
> You mentioned Generations ink in passing: is it your experience that the
> Generations black is visibly darker than the MIS black?
>
> Best,
>
> -- Nick
>
> NICHOLAS HARTMANN                                +1 (414) 271-4890
> 611 N. Broadway, Suite 509                  fax: +1 (414) 271-4892
> Milwaukee, WI 53202, USA                       polyglot@...
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> Technical and scientific translator:  German and French -> English
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