Digital BW, The Print

Sue:

> A.  Getting custom profiles for various paper combinations. This alone
> probably won't get me the perfection I'm looking for. Completely 
> neutral
> please!!!

My experience confirms that it's virtually impossible to get "neutral" 
B&W by printing RGB, even with custom profiles. Several years ago, I 
had a Fuji Pictrography 4000 that had a calibrator to linearize it, an 
ideal situation for making a custom profile that should yield neutral 
B&W. At that time, Bruce Fraser, co-author of Real World Photoshop, 
made a custom profile for me. After extensive work on it, he concluded 
that "ICC profiles just aren't a good solution to achieve B&W prints 
without a color cast." He ended up making a PS adjustment curve that 
worked much better, but there were still some images that would never 
print neutral.

[You will find statements such as the review on the Luminous Landscape 
forum that state that the 2200 prints neutral B&W right out of the box; 
but don't believe it as this review seems to have been made someone who 
must be colorblind, or at least without the ability to judge what is a 
good B&W print.]


> B.  IP5 RIP - expensive (sort of) and mixed reviews for Mac as well as
> little documentation...ie "it's difficult." That scares me. I can't 
> handle
> endless toying with no support. Will still need the custom profiles.

First, don't even try using IP5 on System 9, on which it is kludgy 
owing to the operating system's lack of multi-tasking. On OSX, IP5 runs 
fine and is easy to use, just follow the instructions carefully about 
how to instal the printer and enter the encryption key, making sure 
that you select the correct connection-type (USB vs network). Also, 
make sure that Classic is not running when your using IP5. I'm here in 
Bangkok where I cannot just pick up the phone and call ColorByte. My 
problems were the ones I've just mentioned, and I got prompt responses 
by e-mail; and, on New Year's Eve, ColorByte telephoned me here in 
Bangkok to solve my problem, so the support they provided was 
outstanding. However, if you follow my foregoing suggestions, you 
should have no problems.

You will not need custom profiles with IP5 because their profiles are 
so accurate. Andrew Rodney, a well-known guru on these matters, stated 
on this forum that the IP5 profiles are better than he can make -- and 
his company makes custom profiles for clients. For color, I found the 
IP5 profiles even slightly better, with better shadow detail than the 
outstanding profiles that Bill Atkinson has made for the 9600/7600. [I 
use the 7600 which is similar to the 2200 in results].

So far I have printed mainly in color with IP5, but the little 
experience printing with IP5 so far has resulted in the following 
preliminary conclusions:

1. IP5 produces absolutely neutral B&W and, using Tint Picker, prints 
can be subtly toned for excellent results that are more attarctive than 
the un-toned prints.

2. I find the quality (in terms of dithering) and the gradation to 
equal PiezographyBW. But I should hasten to add that Robert Morrison, 
on this forum, finds that IP5 compresses the darkest tones somewhat 
more than either the monitor image or PiezoBW. I'll have to do some 
more B&W printing with IP5 before I have a firm conclusion on this. 
When I was deciding whether to buy IP5, Jon Cone wrote me a message in 
response to a question stating,  that he found "ImagePrint as every bit 
as good as PiezographyBW Pro24 which is why it was going to be the 
engine in Piezography2."

--Mitch/Bangkok