Digital BW, The Print

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matt Betea [mailto:mbetea@...] 
<snip>
> Hmm, looks like it's back to the drawing board. No matter what I do 
> if I make adjustments prior to applying the Roark curves I get 
> posterization.

You are certainly not the first to encounter this.  I had a heck of time
with it with my old 1280, with all of Paul's curves.  Others have
reported this as well.  I ended up using another set of curves which
worked pretty well for me (the Tyler curves).  But with all the same
exact computer equipment (except the new replacement 1280), I now get
excellent results with the MW curve.  Luckily, I like the tone of that
curve the best, and really don't desire much else, because I still get
it to some degree with the others.  Paul suggests I move to the UT B&W
inkset, but I'm happy with what I'm getting now and a little leery of
the clogs I've heard reported here with the new inks.  I might wait a
little.

> And the histogram still reflects a good amount of data 
> still (it doesn't look jaggy or like a comb at all). Now without 
> adjusting anything, applying the Roark curve then using that for 
> adjustments doesn't give me any posterization, but then the images 
> don't have the contrast I would like.

I've actually never bothered to look at the histogram after applying the
curve.  I probably shouldn't at this point because I like what I'm
getting and I might be scared if I do!  But have you considered bumping
up the contrast in the printer dialog box by using the sliders?  My
normal setting for my tastes requires +10 in the contrast slider.  I
adjust the image so the contrast is good on my screen, but the prints
are indeed a little flat from there if I print without further
adjustment.  So rather than blow out the highlights and shadows on the
image itself, I adjust the contrast from that point with the sliders in
the print dialog box.  Plus 10 is my default, and 90% of my prints look
good that way.  At that setting, my stepwedge shows excellent
smoothness, and great separation of tones throughout almost all the
percentages.  My 0% to 5% even shows great separation, at the expense of
a little lack at the bottom end, where 95% is about pure black.  But
that doesn't bother me, because I like the look and have never really
needed to see all the detail in the darkest of shadow areas anyway.  I
always printed in the darkroom like that too.

Thanks,
Ed
http://lightandsilver.com