Digital BW, The Print

On 6/4/03 11:09 PM, "Tyler Boley" <tyler@...> wrote:

> You're talking features. Martin specifically asked about print quality.
 
>> Completely smooth breakless curves.

This is not something I've gotten from the Piezo driver since the move to
Piezotone inks. Prior to that move the quality of the profiles was all over
the place with the old inks.  Many other papers...including some of my
favorites were not supported.  The results using other profiles were simply
not acceptable.  My screen match is flawless...that makes a big difference
in final output...allowing very, very fine tuning of hilight and shadow
detail.

Speaking of print quality...try to imagine a piezo print with a 2.5 dmax!
I'm looking at prints just like that now from my 2200...certainly not
somewhere I could get with the Piezo driver.  Likewise partitioned work
flows with the 1280 using the Ultratones appear to give a much poorer dmax
on RC papers because of 1280 inflow restrictions.  Driving the 2200 with
single channel control turns out to the ultimate solution for print quality.

All of the things I just described are "print quality" issues for me.
 
> I have a report of lack of ability to print a sharp edge at the image
> border and an overall softness with IJC.

Certainly not what I've seen.  Was the report...your testing or someone
else's?

> Another question.
> More on topic, why would anyone go out and get an entire new computer,
> install an operationg system quickly becoming obsolete, instead of
> simply waiting for a version for for the platform they already own?
> Another question.

That is perhaps a good question...although for me having a separate print
server is an incredibly valuable thing...just like having a dedicated
machine for scanning. It makes organizing my workflow much simpilier.
Admittedly, I wouldn't buy a machine that wasn't capable of running OSX at
this point...but IJC is working flawlessly for me on my print server running
OS9...however, its my understanding that the OSX version is coming soon.

> Although I don't use them, if someone is making perfectly beautiful
> prints with RGB curves, why is it non-sense?

Because it is convoluted workflow that makes fine tuning very difficult in
comparison to what they could be doing with Ink Jet Control. Partitioned
workflows had their time and place in the development of digital
printing...but in my opinion that time and place is gone...but of course
that is just my opinion...to each his/her own.  I know using a partitioned
workflow would be nonsense for me. What we are talking about here is the
ability to have fine control.  This is critical for print quality.

Robert