Digital BW, The Print

Martin Wesley wrote:

>
>Unfortunately Wilhelm has not bothered, as far as I know, to do the obvious
>and to comparison test these new materials against standard photographic
>materials. His "years" are a matter of mathematical extrapolation and I
>believe that his "print life" is not with the image at 100% but rather at
>the point where it drops below some percentage of the original image. 80% or
>90% I believe. Maybe lower. The RIT test is to 65% color retention.
>
>Wilhelm's research would be much more meaningful if the "life" was expressed
>in comparison to a silver print. Did the Lysonic E or whatever fade at the
>same rate as a silver print in the same test? That seems like a pretty easy
>thing to measure and the fact that it has not been reported makes me
>skeptical. Besides Wilhelm has been missing in action for two years now.
>
>If Wilhelm ran all of his trials and calculated "print life" the same way
>each time, then the real value of his results is in comparing one medium to
>another. I really don't think you can take his published year values and
>compare them to what you personally might get. Could be less or it could be
>more. There are far too many variables. Only our descendants will know for
>sure.
>
>  
>

As for Wilhelm, I posted this today on another list...


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Where's Wilhelm.?

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/       ?

The site is STILL under construction! The only thing that changes are
the images of construction equipment..

Two years and counting...  LOL

I am amazed that companies still report data from Wilhelm, when all of
his data seems completely unavailable to the public..

He may have a great reputation, but since the EPSON orange-shift debacle
he seems to have no desire or intent to publicly disclose results...  To
me that makes his numbers utterly useless except as a marketing tool for
manufacturers.

To all Henry's proponents... I will admit Henry had a great reputation
and provided for many years an important service to the printing
community, but, isn't two years LONG enough to put up some data? Or has
he given up on accelerated testing methods?  Meaning that we should
expect a 10 to 100 year wait (depending on the archivability of
particular inks and papers) to see real data from him?

IMHO his two year absence and failure to publicly report data has made
his company an open joke.  I'm beginning to believe the site is there
solely to placate us, that Henry has NO plans to ever again PUBLICLY
release his data...  If so, he owes us all a note to that effect..

Please note that I have addressed this e-mail to Wilhelm as well..
Maybe, with the absence of the Leben list, they will deign to answer
this open letter..

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If I hear ANYTHING from Wilhelm Inc. I will let people know..  I'm just 
NOT holding my breath...

Keith
 
 





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