Digital BW, The Print

hello Paul,
i'm most interested to know what product you use, and might recommend,
for protecting your prints. I remember an extensive discussion many months ago
about coatings with the Mayer rod, but I never experimented with one because the
consensus, if I remember correctly, was that the headache and time did not justify
the results. is that true?
do you -- or anyone else who may be reading -- know the relative merits of the several
companies who manufacture the so-called fixative "archival" aerosal sprays for digital
prints?

thanks.

Peter

Paul Roark wrote:

> Clark,
>
> >... Do you like ESFA as well?
>
> No.  It prints blotchy for me. Perhaps it's an ink load problem, but
> whatever it is, I find it and Crane Museo to be way down my list of paper's
> I'd use.
>
> >For my 1160, which has the original Piezo
> >ink, it makes sense that I should simply try
> >the PiezoTone Selenium... Are you suggesting
> >a modified software approach over the
> >standard Piezo driver?
>
> One of the many nice things about the old quad printers like the 1160 is
> that you can use either the Piezo driver or the Epson driver with the same
> ink setup (not true for hextone printers).  There are curves in the Files
> section of this forum (and also that several of us have) that allow the
> Piezo inks to print with the Epson driver.  This results in a better black
> dmax, among other things.
>
> >P.S. One friend wrote the following offline,
> >and I too wish all this was easier to grasp,
> >and to execute. It will be in time, I guess...
> >>>\ufffd...i honestly think that that whole
> >>> quadtone approach is a bunch of
> >>> hassle, due to no way to softproof it.
>
> You can calibrate your monitor.
>
> >>> it's too rubegoldberg for me....the
> >>> more i mess with this crap, the less
> >>>\ufffdmessin' with it, the less riggin', the
> >>> less BS, the better.
>
> Easier would be better, but at what cost in terms of image quality?  I
> wonder if this person ever does high-quality wet darkroom printing.  I
> frankly don't expect a simple procedure to produce the best prints.
>
> >>> honestly, i'm not
> >>> happy with ANY output i've seen, from
> >>> ANY of the printers. really. honestly.
> >>> down deep.
>
> Well, to me, the matte finish does give a non-photo impression at first.
> You'll see a lot of people trying to achieve the "air-dried, fiber-based
> silver-print" look here, and we're not there yet.  I'd guess that is a part
> of the reaction of your friend.
>
> On the other hand, under glass my quad prints generally look superior to my
> silver prints.  Also, having become accustomed to the matte look, I now find
> the reflections off most simple glossy photos to be worse than the flat
> matte look.  (I really dislike reflections interfering with the photo and
> lowering the dmax.  One of my projects has been to perfect the polyurethane
> (or other) coating system so that I can get rid of the glass.)
>
> At any rate, I guess we all have different tolerances for the negatives of
> the quad printing systems.  I tried all sorts of ways to get good B&W output
> from my digital files (Imagesetter, LVT, and Fujix Pictograph internegatives
> to silver, dye and color pigment inks, among others) and the inkjet quad is
> the only approach I've been satisfied with.
>
> (Frankly, I'm not sure I want a simple push-button system to be able to
> match the work I do.  Like I said, the 7500 with Ultra Tones and an EEM roll
> is almost too cheap and easy now.)
>
> Paul
> http://www.PaulRoark.com
>
>
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