Digital BW, The Print

I have been experimenting with Adobe PressReady software on my Window
98-Epson 3000 system for several days.  So far, the results have shown no
net advantage over the Epson driver and the RGB curves I've been using to
produce B&W quad prints.

It may be that my experience is limited to my system -- specifically Windows
98 & 3000.  And, of course, I'm only interested in the software for making
quads, not color prints.  But my current conclusion is that the advantages
of the RIP's independent control of the black ink are far outweighed by the
higher image quality of the Epson driver.

The worst (& fatal) problem is that, on my 3000/Win98 system, the PressReady
images are plagued with banding.  Some Leben list comments indicated there
was an update that cured some early banding problems, but none appears to be
available for Windows 98.  There is a Mac and a Windows 2000 update on the
Adobe web page, but I found nothing there for Window 98.  (I have no idea
what the Mac and Win 2k updates deal with.)  Some other comments on the
Leben list indicate that banding was a problem with some 3000s and not
others.

The blacks that I have been able to produce through the PressReady RIP are a
hair weaker than what the Epson driver produces.  Comments on the Leben list
indicate that if one uses the "Unspecified-advanced" PressReady setting, ink
limits would be eliminated.  But, of course, all systems are limited by
something.  I appear to have run into a limit that is just a hair less than
on the Epson driver.

Following-up on a Leben list comment, I tried putting  MIS VM black ink not
only in the black cartridge, but also in a second, color spot.  Then with
the "independent" control of the K & color spots, I poured ink in from both
jets/carts.  The interesting result is that the amount of ink I specified
via the Photoshop CYMK curves for the two inks -- as long as the total of
the 2 black ink spots was over 100% -- made no difference. 100% K & 100%
color (second K), 100% & 50%, & 100% & 25% all resulted in a black patch on
the test strip that had a 1.65 density.

This result is consistent with there being a combined ink limit that causes
the system to counter balance adding ink from one jet with reducing it from
the other jet.

At any rate, the best I could get from the system with MIS VM-K was 1.65 on
EAM.  I get 1.67 with the standard driver and MIS Vm K.  And, frankly, that
is fine.

The, at least, more-independent control of the black ink that the RIP gives
is useful.  One can get a marginally smoother patch at about 85%, but the
difference would not be significant (if even visible at all) in a display
print.

Other negatives of the RIP were that it processes slowly and has some paper
handling quirks that are annoying.

So, I'm certainly not a RIP/PressReady expert, but I see so many negatives
with it in my system and so few positives, that the experiment is over.  The
Epson driver wins by a large margin.  I did not get any acceptable
images/test strips from the PressReady, PS 6, Win 98, Epson 3000, MIS VM-S
setup.

People with different systems -- perhaps Macs & profiling software (and a
lot of time &/or expertise) -- might be able to overcome all these
deficiencies.  All I can do is relay my experience for what it is worth.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com