Digital BW, The Print

On 8/17/02 6:17 AM, "Anton Young" <antonyoung@...> wrote:

> I'm not sure where you are seeing loss of highlight and shadow detail. I've
> printed out the 21 step wedge and it's just as smooth on the 7600 as it was
> with Piezography. You can't use the same curves for the two though,
> piezography needs much harsher curves than the 7600 does. With piezo I was
> always struggling to push the shadows down enough to get the black ink to
> finally kick in and give the bottom end some punch without completely losing
> the whole bottom half of the image. The challenge with the 7600 is to hold
> the shadows back. Different struggles, but both are capable of a full smooth
> range of tones.

21 step is still course.  I check shadows and hilights with 0.5% increments.
Imageprint resolves these easily.  In addition these transitions need to be
smooth. Mind you I don't have a 7600 so I'm just going on the output that
I've seen from people who do.

Personally, I don't compare anything to the piezo plugin because the
profiles are not nearly as smooth and clean as what I get with Imageprint.
Piezo plugin and epson driver images look out of focus compared to what I
get with Imageprint. Piezopro is in the ball park though...but the profiles
need to be redone for the piezotones.

The black problem that you are describing is typical when you don't have RIP
style controls...or in the case of imageprint...someone who is tuning a
driver specifically for BW work...something epson doesn't do well.  The
easiest way to get black punch is to use the piezotones on hahnemuhle.  It
beats the matte black by at  .15 dmax.  If you want the best performance you
can get from your 7600 for BW work...I suggest you order a Imageprint demo.
I'm sure we would all be interested in your comparisons.


Robert