Digital BW, The Print

I'm not sure if Boris' intelligence and Photoshop wizardry should be
questioned just yet - printing a 21 step wedge seems to be a prudent step
towards establishing a workflow.  I don't think levels adjustment and
tweaking is going to give him a smooth step wedge.  I'm not particularly
good in Photoshop, but I got very similar results to Boris simply by
following the instructions to the letter.

This Quad-tone world is full of tweaking and testing, and I think that like
me Boris followed an established workflow too rigorously without introducing
any variation.  We must have diversity, or we'll die as a species.  :)

   Matthew
  -----Original Message-----
  From: Bob Michaels [mailto:bob@...]
  Sent: Monday, July 21, 2003 8:07 PM
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
  Subject: [Digital BW] Re: 1280 w/ MIS VM vs 2200


  Boris: At the risk of insulting your intelligence, I must ask about
  your competence in Photoshop. I can duplicate your poor results by
  using my straight scanned files (XP2 negatives) but a pass through
  Photoshop and a few levels and contrast adjustments make them look
  altogether different. I would say the results are very good and quite
  easy using 1280 with either MIS VM (Roark workflow & curves) or FSN-E
  inks (Woolf workflow & curves)

  Try Black Only printing to help diagnose your problems. Actually quite
  good results and easy. See Clayton Jones article at
  http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm

  Bob Michaels

  --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "borisw8"
  <borisw8@y...> wrote:
  > Hi group.  New member here.
  >
  > I have been struggling for over a year now, trying to get results
  > from a 1280 with the MIS variable hex-tone system.  The results are
  > still completely unacceptable to me.  I don't know what I could be
  > doing wrong.  I convert to RGB, apply the correct curve, use Archival
  > Matte paper. The correct settings on the printer driver, etc...
  >
  > The results are usually very "flat" looking.  Looks like there are
  > only about a dozen or so shades of grey, therefore missing most of
  > the detail.  I tried about a dozen different sets of cartridges but
  > always the same results.  It's not the computer either, because I get
  > the same results on two different machines.
  >
  > When I print a 21 step greyscale, I think I can see at least part of
  > the problem.  Between 60% to 80%, everything looks to be about the
  > same kind of dark grey - the curve is not very smooth.
  >
  > On the other hand, when I put color cartridges in, it prints like a
  > charm.  Too bad that most of my work is B&W :(
  >
  > If there is someone here who thinks they are getting really good
  > results from this combination of Epson 1280 and MIS VM hex-tone, I'd
  > love it if I could send you a file and print-out and you could tell
  > me if your results look any better.
  >
  > Since I have about given up on that whole thing, here is my second
  > question:  I'm tempted to dump the 1280 and buy a 2200 and use it
  > with the stock cartridges to print my b&w photos.  Any results, good
  > or bad?
  >
  > My most sincere thanks to anyone who has taken the time to read this.
  >
  > Boris


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