Digital BW, The Print

Hi Eric,

I have been reading with interest all the posts regarding your odyssey into
the digital B&W print realm. Being a long-time darkroom worker (30+ years)
and a relatively short-time digital worker (~4 years) for whatever reason I
feel a need to "weigh in" on this topic.

For myself, I was sort of "forced" into the light room. About 4 years ago we
made a cross-country move and, even though we had house shopped with a wet
darkroom setup in mind, the house just didn't seem to have any leftover
space after we moved in. I had come from a custom designed (by yours truly)
22x24 foot studio/darkroom...set up in a bathroom just wasn't going to cut
it! <g>

Somehow...I don't really even remember how--I think it was an early digital
print of Ron Harris's that I bought--I got the idea to try working
digitally. I bought a Mac. Never had an Apple, myself, though I had used
Macs many years ago at work. But, the Apple platform with Colorsync color
management was really the only option at the time. Yes...I planned on doing
some color, too. At the time, IMO (and many others) Windoze just wasn't
there, yet, for proper color management. Anyway, I bought a G4 Mac (a
Cube...the wrong one since it's not upgradeable or expandable), a flatbed
scanner because I shoot mostly large format (up to 8x10)--the wrong scanner
because the 1680 came out about 3 months later and it's a much better
unit--I own one, now, and an Epson 1160 printer. At least I got the printer
right! I'll spare you the trials-n-tribulations of all the workflows and
inksets I've used over the years; especially my experience with the early
PiezoBW plug-in and the original Piezo inkset.

More to the point...I absolutely love B&W silver prints...I've produced a
few quite nice quadtone images...I've spent a TON of money on digital
imaging; exponentially more than I ever spent on wet darkroom hardware! And,
I own a 30 inch deep by 8 foot wide stainless steel sink with temp control
unit, water filters, etc.! If you head down the digital road, be prepared. I
always tell friends who seek my advice that digital imaging is a very
slippery slope...you never seem to be done spending money...there's always
something...software upgrades, hardware upgrades, etc. I've mentioned to my
wife on more than one occasion that my 30 year old Beseler MX enlarger can
still make a print; and I haven't spend a dime on it since my original
purchase. Hmm, where will all our current digital hardware be in 30 years?

Is digital imaging fun? YES! Can you produce prints as lovely as any B&W wet
darkroom print? IMO, yes! Just look at the work of Paul Roark, Ron Harris,
and many others on this list. There have been several occasions where I've
felt that I just couldn't produce the image I wanted if not for the tools
available on the desktop. Will I set up my wet darkroom, again, some day?
I've still got my Beseler MX and my Leitz V35...got no plans to sell 'em
either. I really think one could enjoy both....

Join the quest. But, proceed cautiously with eyes wide shut! ;>)

Regards,
Alan Huntley

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eric Maquiling" <eric@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 4:38 PM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: First post here, DMax question


> On 10/22 23:32, Mike Botelho wrote:
> > subject, browsing the archives, etc.  If you are still reading this
> > thread, you'll see that I'm considering a 1280 and Ultra Tone inks to
> > start my experiments, but this is so new to me I can't guarantee what
>
> Funny, I'm on the same track.  I'm on the fork in the road...should I
> get an epson 1280 and UT inks or should I get a NOva vertical
> processor for 16x20's and set up my darkroon the bathroom?
>
> What's stopping me is that I would probably need a new computah that I
> can't afford.
>
> -- 
> Eric
> Eric's PAW page:  <http://www.maquiling.org/paw>
> PAW main page:  <http://www.jeffery-nola.com/links.html>