Digital BW, The Print

Please allow me to jump in this way...

Those »generally accepted 5lp/mm limit of the human eye« simply is a myth.
These measures were taken more than 100 years in the past testing just one
(!) 
human eye watching a resting object. They found a resp of about 9lp/mm this
way. 

I do not intend to blame people familiar to look one-eyed at artwork -
please forgive my being a bit ironically- but there actually exists the
option to use one´s both eyes for the same purpose. And there is a
big difference then. Resolution is very much higher, and it is enhanced in
addition by the constant scanning movements of the eyes called »tremor«.

The astronaut´s eyes are capable of discriminating trucks on the highways by
looking down from the orbit. This is possible only with a resp of more than
100 lp/mm of their human eyes.
A traditional photographer easily can discriminate between the resolution of
a paper for enlargements (ca.25lp/mm) and a contact paper like AZO
(ca.40lp/mm).
When you have doubts - there is scientific literature available on this
issue.

Like the human ear the human eye too can be made awaken and sharpened or
sent into sleep. As a teacher in Europe of workshops on both the digital and
the traditional fine print I am well aware about the differences. There are
beautiful prints possible using the inkjet but you can´t compare them with a
contact print from a large format negative on silver - this would be like
comparing apples with pears. There are simply different aestetics involved.
The hype however on going digital in my ears sometimes sounds like people
being happy to become blind.

My equipment is two Epson Photo 1200 (both with the MIS continouus inks
system) and a Color 3000. The inks are the MIS Quadtones and the Triton
system of the European Ink Company which give results as good as the best
Piezography prints by being much lower in price.

Thank you for listening

Burkhardt Kiegeland

www.lotusviewcamera.at



 




        Paul Roarke wrote

snip...
At the 360 dpi level there would be no separation of the 14.4lp/mm lines at
all.  (By the way, my standard file resolution is 360 dpi
because it can readily resolve 7.2 lp/mm, which is more than the
     generally-accepted 5 lp/mm limit of the human eye.

  snip... 


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