Digital BW, The Print

Bill,

You make a good point here. The tests were run in full grayscale mode 
with the full ink sets in use. However, the results may be influenced 
by how the different drivers run the 100% black that was used. From 
some tests I did awhile back I believe that the Piezo driver may run 
some or all of the lighter inks all the way into 100% black.

The Epson driver may not do this and may have an advantage at this 
density that might not be there at 75%, 50% or 25%. Of course the 
test is defined as black lines on a white background so it would no 
longer be strictly comparable to other results

In the end though I still feel it is our perception of the final 
print that counts and the tests, while informative and interesting, 
should not be the deciding factor.

Martin

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., Bill Morse <willym@b...> 
wrote:
> Austin, I'm not sure why you are focussing on halftoning with black 
ink
> only, when it seems obvious that the tests were done with two 
different quad
> systems (piezo and MIS VM).  Given that, I don't see what you are 
adding to
> the discussion here.  Others have pointed out that a better 
comparison of
> the two systems would include line pairs of varying densities (and 
now that
> Paul has done a test w/ black on white, perhaps others can do some 
tests
> with gray on gray and black on gray etc.)
> 
> From what I understand from your posts, it seems that you may be 
calling for
> the same thing; if so, I suggest you say so, if not, then why don't 
you
> propose another test that might clarify things.
> 
> Bill Morse
> PhotoProspect
> Cambridge, MA 
> 
> 
> on 10/10/01 8:02 PM, Austin Franklin wrote:
> 
> ...The context was halftone...not just black ink.
> 
> The fact is, when halftoning with the Epson driver and only one 
ink, it
> takes up 16x more space to produce the same tones...given that, it 
would
> only make sense that it has to limit the input resolution WHEN DOING
> DITHERING/HALFTONING.
> 
> > Having looked at a number of identical images that I've printed 
with both
> > the Piezo and Epson drivers, I must say in most cases I cannot 
see any
> > sharpness difference, even with a magnifier.
> 
> IMAGES?  As in, grayscale or black/white (typically called lineart) 
only?
> Printed with quad tone inks and the Epson driver, or just the black 
ink?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]