Digital BW, The Print

Paul

I just tried using your curve (vm70-NCA-w1)through Photoshop 6 and got a
great print without the problem. It seems like this is a Photoshop 7
issue. I had exactly the same problem a month ago sending my files to a
Fuji Frontier from Photoshop 7 and very contrasty results. Turns out
that Adobe changed the way they put things in the exif data between PS6
and PS7 and the Frontier had a problem with it. I ended up using
Photoshop 6 to save my files to disk for the Frontier. It seems as if
Photoshop 7 and the Epson driver have something similar going on. I
guess I never noticed a problem with my first good print and PS7 because
there was little area between 50 and 100 in the info palette. I will
keep you updated if I find anything else as I play around here with the
curves. I am going to run through the 100 step greyscale stepwedge again
and PS6 this time with your curve and see if it's still blocked up.

Thanks.
Murray

***

This sounds like more than a minor settings problem.  Try the attached
purge6 pattern and see if it looks like the image file that is
attached.  There may be an ink in the wrong place.
 
PS 7 can be a problem, but I can't imagine it would throw things this
far off.
 
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: Murray Zaharia [mailto:zaharia@...]
Sent: Monday, December 02, 2002 12:10 PM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] VMS curves question and problem - Paul, others?

RE: [Digital BW] More on 'posterization again'

This is going back to the above thread.

I have printed out the 100 step greyscale wedge (Alex Pettit from
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/files/Image%2
0processing/ ) on my 1270 loaded with a new set of VMS inks in a CIS
onto Epson Archival matte paper. I had areas of my prints with no detail
that is clearly there on my file. It was in areas from approx 50 to 100
in the info pallet. This is confirmed on my printout of the above
mentioned greyscale wedge. There is NO visual differentiation between
any individual squares between 54 and 99 (info pallet) on the greyscale
wedge that I printed out. I also scanned the greyscale wedge printout
and checked it out with the dropper (3x3 sample) in Photoshop as well
and it confirms the same.

What is going on here? I can't see anyone being happy with this lack of
detail and the posterized look that results. Is there a possibility that
the curves are corrupted or something? Can the curves be adjusted to fix
this? I just cannot see that Paul would have been happy with these
results in the first place, therefore something must not be right.

My settings in Photoshop 7:

Working Space: Adobe RGB
Gray: Gray Gamma 2.2
Print Space: Printer Color Management

I am following to the letter Paul's instructions for his curves.

I am using an Epson 1270 with the proper 1270 curve (vm70-NCA-w1) and
printing on Epson Archival Matte paper.

Driver settings:
Matte Paper - Heavyweight
1440 dpi
High Quality Halftoning
Microweave on
High Speed off
No Color Adjustment

I have perfect nozzle checks as well.