Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., Carolyn Frayn <carolynfrayn@s...> wrote:
> Hey Tyler,  just how many times can one say "in my mind" in one post and
> still be taken seriously?  Have to quit writing so late...
> damn.
> Carolyn

Well, untill we all stop screwing around and start putting something worth looking at on paper, it's all in our minds anyway. 
Let me further confuse the collective mind here. I have a file I use frequently that is a grid of solid patches, 1 to 100% gray 
scale, each patch a solid tone. 2.2 gamma grayscale.
When I convert that to sRGB with dither checked, uh, why are some of the patches no longer solid tone? One of the worst 
here is 39%. Made a new file and filled it with solid 39% gray, check histo to make sure that's correct, converted as above, 
histo shows some slight variation now, clustered around that tone, and I can see the bumpiness on my monitor.
The same conversion but to AdobeRGB also shows some variation, but much less. Conversion to either space without dither 
does not show the problem.
So converting to sRGB from gray with dither is turning individual tones into "some tones". Now what happens when yanking 
all that around with severe sep curves? Does it matter?
Further tests reveal that sRGB and gray 2.2 gamma do not precisely map to each other without moving some tones, and 
AdobeRGB and 2.2 gray do. So they are not directly interchangeable for quad work as I first assumed from their 2.2 spec.
Even though sRGB is useless for anything other than it's intended web use, and now it's being shoved down our throats as 
digital camera spaces, I'm not positive it's useless for quad work since gamut mapping is not an issue.
However since gray 2.2 does not map precisely to it without moving some tones, I would use Adobe instead if it doesn't 
screw up your current results, and I'd certainly turn that stinkin dither off.
Better yet, stick to 16 bit, sorry Todd.
C. D. Tobie could certainly tell you more about the foisting of sRGB upon us, and why Adobe ever made it a "default". They 
backed away from that quickly, and those unfamilier with events and the complexities of working spaces wound up still 
assuming it was advised.
Tyler, stuck in his mind

or as some would say, stuck with my head up my...