Digital BW, The Print

At 04:39 PM 5/14/03 -0700, you wrote:

>I plunged into digital B&W printing about two months ago and have since
>discovered that something I thought was simple and straight forward is
>extremely complex.  I haven't been very successful in finding a good
>source of information were I can learn how the various phenomena are
>manifested (colour casts, metamerism, shifts, bronzing, etc.) or what
>controls them.  I find the tens of different options (quadtones,
>hextones, septtones, RIPs, printer drivers, separate drivers, profiling
>equipment, whatnot) very confusing and I don't know how to choose
>between them... or to determine what is right for me and the budget
>that I willing to devote to this.
>
>Is there such a source?  Online or in a book?  I can't access the Files
>section of the Yahoo! groups page, because it refuses to acknowledge
>that I subscribe to this group -- despite having gone through the whole
>"verification of membership" process twice.
>
>M.


The thing to do is eliminate all the variables you can. Everyone who posts 
to this list has different needs so has different problems and opinions 
about what is best.  Pick one paper and one ink set and put in some time on 
them.  What is your primary end-product?  If it is an ink jet print that 
looks just like a selenium-toned, air-dried glossy forget about it or 
forever be spinning your wheels.  If you want an outstanding  salon quality 
exhibition print with its own unique character go for either the piezo 
system which is turn-key,  or the Roark system which you can get the hang 
of quickly using the cook-book method.  In spite of the way it seems 
reading the BW list most people are not having difficulties making prints. 
The experimenters (bless their hearts) and just plain un-lucky are 
naturally going to generate the most mail.   There is no book - there can't 
be because everything changes too quickly.

My system is not state of the art but I'm a happy man: piezo, MIS-FS inks 
and Red River Polar Matte, paper.  I have a 980 printer and use the top-off 
refill system.  I have no (zero, zip) problems except occasional operator 
error. Were I to up-grade one notch I'd use a 2000 series printer and photo 
rag paper. I don't usually sell work so I have to keep costs down.

AZ



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