Digital BW, The Print

Terry,
 
Thanks for the link to the inkjetart.com page which shows the side-by-
side comparisons of the various Epson printers and associated drivers 
including the 3000, 1160, 1200, 1270, 2000, 5000 and many others. I 
put it in the "Bookmarks" section of the group homepage.
 
This helps explains some things I have noticed. Especially the 
difference between the 3000 and later models with the Epson driver. I 
noticed this on sample prints of Spectratone Quad inks. The 1200 
samples showed much less dot pattern than the 3000 samples.
 
I think that the ConeTech Piezo vs. MIS comparison images are from a 
3000. It seems likely that the "poor quality" reputation of the Epson 
driver I hear mentioned occasionally may be based upon the earlier 
technologies and not the newer versions.
 
It is interesting that the 5000, 7000, 9000 and perhaps 10,000 
printers appear to have a coarser dot pattern than the 1270, 1280, 
1290 printers but less banding pattern. There may be a trade off here 
or a realization that beyond a certain point smaller dot sizes simply 
are not noticeable.
 
It is also important to remember that with all of these printers and 
dot patterns, that they have little to no visibility at normal 
viewing distances and that people have been able to produce very 
excellent prints with all of them.
 
Martin


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "TerryR" <terryr1028@h...> 
wrote:

(snip)

> The droplet size combined with the lack of the ability to vary it 
is 
> why the "dots" are so much more visible from a 3000 using the Epson 
> driver. The Piezo driver compensates for this by eliminating the 
> Epson dithering in the driver and tightening up the dpi so the dot 
> size isn't as obvious. Paul Roarks curves take advantage of the 
Epson 
> dithering and the crossover points to also minimize the dot size 
> appearance. Go to the Inkjetart site and look at the comparisions 
of 
> the output of the printers under 8x and 17x magnification at this 
> link:
> 
> http://www.tssphoto.com/sp/dg/news/dot_comp.html
> 
> For a better explanation of the Variable Drop Technology go to this 
> link (from Epson themselves):
> 
> http://www.epson.co.uk/whatsnew/technology/vdot.htm
> 
> Terry
> 
(snip)