Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "A. Huntley" 
<leicam6@a...> wrote:
Alan;

Clayton & I live a few miles from each other, & we've been comparing 
his BO prints with my 'customized'(used to be a VM set) MIS set for 
a while now; While my prints are smoother and also WYSIWYG (no 
partitioned curves or other such annoyances) they give us both the 
impression that there is simply too much ink being thrown at the 
paper, resulting in a loss of highlight clarity and a few other 
related minor problems. So I tried his way yesterday, and discovered 
much to my frustration that while I can do quite well with the dye 
ink on my 1280, and get flawless color pigment prints, I get a lot 
of microbanding with the MIS black ink. My suspicion is that the 
microbanding is viscosity related, so I'll test that theory soon by 
diluting the black a little-but that's another subject.
 I do have a couple of suggestions for the dye BO setup -I tested 
the 2880 dpi (will a 1270 do 2880 dpi?)and the result is worth the 
extra wait, you go from 'digital Tri-X' to 'digital Plus-X' or even 
finer. As for the longevity issue, I wonder how the Gen-4 black ink 
would work? Might be worth trying, the lifespan would be much better 
if all else works well.

Regards,

Steve K

http://www.stevekphoto.com

> 
> An unexpected surprise, though, came about when I decided to try 
printing on
> my Epson 1270, on EAM, using the Epson
> standard dye inkset for this printer. I chose BO ink, and printed 
one image
> at gamma 2.2 (I think this is the value Clayton uses
> on his 870) and one image at gamma 1.8. The overall tonality was 
stunning,
> contrast was certainly within any acceptable
> range, and the prints looked quite neutral. The 2.2 print was too 
dark for
> my taste, but the 1.8 print was just about perfect! OK,
> what am I trading off, here? Longevity? Since I'm fairly old now 
and I don't
> sell my prints, longevity is not a major concern
> of mine. Gorgeous print quality is! :>) Yes, dots are visible 
under a
> magnifying glass or loupe and, also, to my daughter's young
> eyes when examined a very close distance, but, at normal viewing 
distances,
> you would be hard pressed to see any dots. I'm
> finally encouraged and "fired up" to continue experimenting with BO
> printing. Are you listening, Clayton? I'm not saying that BO
> printing will replace my VM prints, but it could be another useful 
quiver in
> this photog's toolbox. I think that with certain
> images--old wooden buildings, stormy landscapes, etc--BO printing 
could
> provide an extra "edge." I wouldn't use it, for instance,
> for something like a snowscape; dots in the infinite number of 
lighter grays
> would probably be much too noticeable.
> 
> Just thought I'd toss out my latest findings playing around with BO
> printing. Clayton - this is basically what I was going to send
> you, offlist.
> 
> Wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving holiday,
> Alan Huntley
>