Digital BW, The Print

Thanks, Paul.  This is just the sort of information I am looking for. I hope no 
one will misconstrue any of my previous posts as criticism of the VM inkset in 
any way. In fact, I very much like the tonality and the ability  to change the 
tones for different images.  It's just that the lack of  an established 980 
workflow left me feeling less than confident that I am getting the best print 
possible. Most likely any problems that I am having are the result of my own 
lack of experience with printing quadtones.  However, without the benefit of a 
known good print from the inkset/paper/printer combo it is hard to figure out 
whether I am getting a representative print.  I happen to be one that really 
hates visible dots and I have seen inkjet output that has none visible (to th 
enaked eye). Perhaps I would be happier with more gray levels - from the FS 
inkset or just  a 6 position printer.

With regard to the question about the RGB below, I am converting to RGB 
before applying the curves. I made that mistake only once with truly awful 
results ;-).

I will try the UT curves and see how things go.

thanks again,

Costa

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Roark" <
paul.roark@v...> wrote:
> 
> >Does anyone who has compared VM and FS inksets care to comment on 
the
> >differences?
> 
> FS inks are Piezo software-compatible.  There are 4 shades -- a black and 3
> grays.
> 
> The VM inks are not Piezo software compatible.  They use a black, 2 grays
> and a cool (bluish) toner in a quad setup.  In hextone printers, there are 6
> different inks -- black, 3 grays, 2 toners.
> 
> The black and cyan inks have the same densities.  The VM light gray and
> toner densities are between the two lightest FS/Piezo gray densities.
> 
> >...5% has dark dots in it ...
> 
> Are you converting the file to RGB before applying the curves?  Some do 
see
> the toner dots in quadtone printers.  Oddly, the UT inkset, which works the
> same way, seems to be smoother.  Part of this is that the curves are better.
> Whether this would affect the dots you're seeing in the 5% patch is
> questionable.