Digital BW, The Print

Peter,
> Shortly after I joined the group some months back I complained that 
> one difference between darkroom printers I knew and digital ones is 
> that many darkroom printers I knew were genuinely interested in the 
> chemistry and physics of their craft, whereas too many digital 
> printers "black-boxed" everything.   When I have questions about 
the 
> chemistry of developing and printing or the physical properties of 
> emulsions and papers I can always find some old darkroom geek who 
> knows the answer.   But when I have similar questions about the 
> physical and chemical properties of inks and inkjet papers it's 
hard 
> to find people here who know or even care.   Your complaint 
> reinforces that stereotype.

Who cares what the physical properties of these materials are from a 
practical point of view. The properties are basically immutible and 
there is little prgamatic value to be gained by this knowledge. In 
other words, IMO, you are getting to low level in your knowledge 
quest as an end user to provide useful results.

Now if you are thinking about manufacturing a product, that's a 
different issue. 

But why not worry about making photographs instead of all this 
ancillary stuff?

Don Bryant