Digital BW, The Print

I feel like the godfather character- I keep trying to get out and they
keep dragging me back in! I really don't mean to be argumentative, and
I think OPM/IJC has many great attributes. However I have to take
issue with a lot of this, but you know, with a lot of love.
As Antonis says, editing a master file for the anomalies of a given
output system is unwise at a glance. Certainly saving a master file
with those edits is not a good idea. But in fact, correcting for
output at any given time is SOP in this day and age. We convert our
master color file to the output profile either manually or on the fly
all the time, that's the idea. We certainly don't save the converted
file, that is destructive and it's usefulness for the future is very
limited. We may even have a little editing to do to optimize our print
through that profile and printer. Again, saving the master with those
particular edits would be unwise.
For mono printing systems, we may have a master 16 bit gamma 2.2 (for
example) file. Our output system, whether Piezo, RGB driver after
curves, ImagePrint, IJC, whatever, is never perfectly linear or
possibly not appropriate for that given print. So we may have a final
curve we want to apply to print they way we want today on whatever
output system we have today. Why would anyone save their file in that
state? It's device specific. Also, if our work habits are refined, a
final curve to a high bit file is not very destructive at all. It's
not an issue.
I'll be willing to bet that, with OPM/IJC and the new Ergosoft option,
after initial sep curves are developed or canned ones selected, final
densitometer linearization is an overall correction applied at INPUT
to the file on the fly. That's exactly the same thing as applying a
final correction curve, exactly. Any other method of linearization
would be ridiculously complex and have to alter each and every ink
channel.
So, that a file needs some kind of optimization for printing is not a
plus or minus of any particular product or output system, but more of
a convenience feature of whether or not it happens on the fly or you
do it yourself in Photoshop.

Black box printing systems-
Piezo plugin and Pro
ImagePrint
Epson driver with RGB cures user can't edit (for experience reasons)
Maybe some others, I'm not paying much attention at this point

With these, if you have no flat spots, reversals, harsh transitions or
other major problems, with well made master files a final tweak is not
a problem. I'd say, for those not interested in delving the depths of
individual channel control with the new systems, it's no different
than what an overall linearization is going to do on the fly with
these new systems. If the correction can be handled by the particular
percentage points Photoshop offers in a custom grayscale space, you
can even save it out and apply it when printing on the fly, assuming
your output system accepts grayscale in.

Obviously, new systems have extraordinary features for those who
choose to work with them and I'm certainly stoked about the
possibilities. But an output system is not dictating an unwise or
destructive workflow, it may however make for a much more convenient
one. Let me know if I'm missing something, please.
This is worth restating-
> Of course, as
> profiles become available for OPM, not only are they canned and
easy-to-use,
> the whole thing is free, which is another matter to consider!

Tyler