Digital BW, The Print

> In my original post concerning the comparison of Piezo prints and
> Epson (driver) prints my chief concern was with what difference could
> be _perceived_ between prints made with the two drivers, given
> identical printing conditions.

Epson driver using quad inks and a quad ink workflow, or Epson driver with
Epson inks?

> If a dozen reputable people tell me that they can or can't perceive a
> difference in revealed detail between prints (MIS VM quadtones vs.
> Piezo quadtones) made by the two drivers, then I think it's worth
> paying attention.

Of course, but it REALLY is important to see what image they are using as a
test, and understand exactly how the tests are being done.  Many erroneous
conclusions can be drawn from improperly done testing.  I'm not saying that
people's observations may not be entirely valid, but they may also not be...

These tests can be image limited, either by the scanner, camera, size of the
film or simply by the size of the output image.  In order to be a completely
"valid" test, everything has to be taken into account, and listed...it's
proper scientific method.  Again, that doesn't mean that people shouldn't go
with their own observations, as they should...but they should also
understand what it is they are testing.

If the image is the one that Paul used, then I dispute any conclusions drawn
using only that image.  If the image is one that is done with a high end
camera, developed well, contains a full range of tones, and has very high
detail...than that is a different story.  I'd actually prefer to use a few
different test cases with varying types of images to make the tests, IMO,
valid.

I have done tests with both Piezo and quad tone inks, and I found, on my
3000, that the Piezo system gives me better images.  Both from a tonality
prospective and in image detail.  I have literally made thousands of prints.
I have two Epson 3000s (as well as two 1160s), and had one of each setup
with Piezo and the other one with MIS.  I removed the MIS after it ran out
and installed the regular Epson inks, simply because I was happier with the
Piezo inks/driver, and I needed a color printer!

All my testing was done with Rollei and Hasselblad images, scanned with a
Leafscan, Plus-X, D-76 1:1 at 75F printed on an Epson 3000 on EHWM 12x12 on
a 13x19.