Digital BW, The Print

Austin, thanks for asking - replies inline...

> BH,
> 
> > I did a series of tests with my printer, a 1270 using the Epson
> > driver.  Short answer: 360 or 720ppi print noticeable better
> > than any other resolutions.
> >
> > Long answer:
> > I'm fairly picky.  I usually don't enlarge beyond 4-5x in the darkroom.
> > I look at prints from 6" away.
> >
> > The _image_ resolutions I tested were: 840, 780, 720, 660, 600, 540,
> > 480, 420, 360, 300, 240, 180ppi, 8-bit grayscale images printed from
> > Illustrator.  I created the different resolution versions by starting at
> > 840ppi, and downsampling to each successively lower resolution in
> > Photoshop.
> 
> How do you know the downsampling isn't causing the visual difference in the
> printout?

The image files show no artifacts or moire on screen at 100% pixels. 

> 
> > My test  image had some thin slightly diagonal lines
> > (wood joints) which helped identify differences.  The thing that
> > immediately stands out is moiring(?) in these lines at image resolutions
> > other than 360 or 720ppi.
> 
> What was the actual original image scan resolution?

It was a 6x7 TMX neg scanned @ 3200ppi on an Epson 3200, no "Epson sharpening" 
applied.
> 
> > Anyone else have experiences to support/contrast this?
> 
> My tests show that scanning at the native optical resolution of the scanner,
> and resizing the image without decimating the image (resampling) yields
> noticeably better results than resampling.
> 
> Did you try printing one with no resampling?

No, do you mean setting the print size to various resolutions, and printing each? 
(Each test would be at a different magnification)  I'll give this a try.

- Brian

> 
> Regards,
> 
> Austin