Digital BW, The Print

This was originally prepared by me for the EPSON list I caretake, but I
though people here might like to see it.


Versions of PShop earlier than CS only allowed the option of outputting
in 8 bit to the driver.  However, you could still print a 16 bit image..
PhotoShop simply did the conversion to 8 bit, before handing the data to
the driver.. Now, PShop CS CAN output 16 bits to the driver, but only
AFAIK only RIPS can handle the 16 bit data directly, not stock EPSON or
Canon drivers (which are restricted to 8 bit input)

Except in the rarest of cases, like a quad B&W inkset on the rare image
where 8 bit data sent to a RIP caused some visible banding,
posterization,  or other artifacting, I'd say this is not a big deal..
After all  most professional  RIPS don't need to take data from
PhotoShop anyway, and can directly print from a save 16 bit TIFF, etc..

Beyond a RIP as mentioned above, I see no reason to wait even longer for
prints, just to say I used 16 bit..


Some data for my dual CPU WinTel system with 2gB RAM (1.5 gB used for
the system and 512mB of RAM set aside as the first scratch disk -
contiguous disk space on 7200 RPM drives for the rest of the scratch
space):.. All settings and plugins on both versions of PShop are the
same.. (One important thing, these operations were done in the order
listed, you'll see that PhotoShop doesn't like to return RAM.. That's
one reason I say it badly needs some new memory management instead of
feature upgrades. Work with a really big image and you are better off
closing PhotoShop and restarting it if you don't plan on continuing
using images that large, as the rest of your system will still be taking
the RAM hit for the largest image.)

(RAM usage figures are for the PEAK RAM usage during the operation)

Photoshop 7

To Load/Start-up the program:  40 seconds - PhotoShop using 65 mB of RAM
and  a 48 mB Scratch file

To load a 44mB PSD file:  8 seconds - PhotoShop using 153 mB of RAM and
a 217 mB Scratch file

To load a 64mB TIFF file:  9 seconds - PhotoShop using 222 mB of RAM
and  a 233 mB Scratch file

Unsharp Mask Applied to 8 BIT 64 mB TIFF:   3 seconds - PhotoShop using
227 mB of RAM and  a 233 mB Scratch file

Unsharp Mask Applied to 16 BIT 128mB TIFF (16 bit version of preceding 8
BIT 64 mB TIFF):   16 seconds - PhotoShop using 358 mB of RAM and  a 358
mB Scratch file

Conversion from 64 mB 8 BIT file to 128 mB  16 BIT file:    3 seconds  -
PhotoShop using 363 mB of RAM and  a 299 mB Scratch file

Extensis Intellihance Pro 4 plugin running on the 64mB 8 BIT file:    29
seconds  -  PhotoShop using 437 mB of RAM  and  300 mB Scratch File

At no point did PS 7 exceed the RAMDISK Scratch file capacity.



PhotoShop CS

To Load/Start-up the program: 4 min 16 seconds (my recommendation, GO
GET COFFEE!  - actually you could probably grind it from beans and brew
it.. most of this time was spent scanning  plugins) - PhotoShop using
104 mB of RAM,  a 523 mB Scratch file on the RAM DISK,  and  1.4 gB of
contiguous Hard Drive Scratch Space..

To load a 44mB PSD file:  2 seconds - PhotoShop using 238 mB of RAM a
523 mB Scratch file on the RAM DISK,  and  1.6 gB of contiguous Hard
Drive Scratch Space..

To load a 64mB TIFF file:  3 seconds - PhotoShop using 217 mB of RAM a
523 mB Scratch file on the RAM DISK,  and  1.5 gB of contiguous Hard
Drive Scratch Space.. (I'm surprised, but it actually gave back some RAM!)

Unsharp Mask Applied to 8 BIT 64 mB TIFF:   5 seconds - PhotoShop using
309 mB of RAM, a 523 mB Scratch file on the RAM DISK,  and  1.6 gB of
contiguous Hard Drive Scratch Space..

Unsharp Mask Applied to 16 BIT 128mB TIFF (16 bit version of preceding 8
BIT 64 mB TIFF):   12 seconds - PhotoShop using 430 mB of RAM, a 523 mB
Scratch file on the RAM DISK,  and  1.8 gB of contiguous Hard Drive
Scratch Space..

Conversion from 64 mB 8 BIT file to 128 mB  16 BIT file:    3 seconds
-  PhotoShop using 405 mB of RAM, a 523 mB Scratch file on the RAM
DISK,  and  1.7 gB of  contiguous Hard Drive Scratch Space..

Extensis Intellihance Pro 4 plugin running on the 64mB 8 BIT file:    27
seconds  -  PhotoShop using 637 mB of RAM, a 523 mB Scratch file on the
RAM DISK,  and  1.9 gB of  contiguous Hard Drive Scratch Space..

Preliminary thoughts.. Ok, you can see incremental increases in speed of
some operations..  BUT, the hit to the rest of the system is an order of
magnitude higher..  That means I would be more likely to want to quit
PShop CS to use other applications.  Unfortunately, the extended load
time mitigates against choosing to do that..

Whether this upgrade is worth it, is up to the individual user..



Keith Krebs

"Just some guy," caretaker of the Multiverse's largest EPSON printer
User Community (highly recommended by Vogon Poets and MegaDodo
Publications), at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EPSON_Printers/
and  the Multiverse's largest Canon printer User  Community at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Canon-printers
"For the rest of you out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together
guys"