Digital BW, The Print

Over the weekend, I ran several different ink/paper/driver combinations 
through my 2200, trying one last time to get a good answer to how best to charge my 
7600 for B+W printing.   I printed using QTR, the Colorburst RIP and CJ's BO 
method.   I used matte K and photo K.   I used BO with matte K on matte and 
Epson semigloss alike.   Papers ... Hawk Mountain Merlin and Condor BW, Epson 
Ultrasmooth Fine Art, Moab Entrada, Oriental FB glossy, Epson semigloss, and a 
sheet of EEM just to be sure.   Inks in all cases were the Epson UC inkset   (I 
tried to use the UT2200 Eboni cartridge, but it stayed stubbornly 
uncooperative to the end.)   The test image was a chiarascuro image of a dancer, dead 
black field with the midtone grays and highlights you would expect to find in a 
figure study, from a Rolleiflex Tri-X negative scanned at 3200 dpi and printed 
6 inches square.

With two exceptions, the amazing thing about this orgy of printing was how 
similar the results looked.   Just to be sure it wasn't my bad eyes, I took the 
prints into my office and summoned whoever passed by in for a look, and all 
concurred that you had to strain to see any difference.   I can pick out the BO 
prints from the others because they seem a tiny bit more vibrant in the 
highlights (a good thing) and a tiny bit rougher in the transitions from shadow to 
light (a bad thing).   But from a foot away it is hard to see a difference.

The exceptions:   (1) The Oriental FB, printed with QTR and photo K, stood 
apart from the rest.   Its surface, AFTER printing, looked very very close to a 
darkroom print, and the image had a depth and dimensionality the others 
lacked.   Shadow detail was superior to the others, and it offered a much deeper 
black than the competition.   Too bad the largest sheet is 13x19, of it would be 
the winner in my book.   (In fairness, the office divided between it and the 
Epson Ultrasmooth.)

(2) The BO print with matte K on Epson semigloss was a dud.   The paper 
cockled under the amount of ink the printer laid down to create the black field.   
This was a disappointment, because BO had worked so well in all other 
respects.   I changed to an image with a more even distribution of grays, and this BO 
paper/ink combination looked great with the second image.

So, as of Tuesday night, I have concluded that there is no clearly right 
answer, but the happy flip side is that there seem to be few wrong answers too.   
I think I will go with the Epson UC inkset and the matte K ink for my 7600, 
and run it with QTR.   I love QTR's ability to tone prints by blending profiles 
-- so easy, and so elegant.

BUT

that Oriental print gives pause.   I would love to use the paper, if it were 
available in larger sizes.   

QUESTION:   Someone on the list mentioned a paper, from Lyson I think, 
claiming that it too had a printed surface amazingly close to a darkroom fiber 
print.   At the time, I tried and failed to find information about the paper.   
Does this ring any bells with anyone?   Is the paper on the market yet?   And if 
so, can someone provide a link to a web page that describes it or offers it 
for sale?   

Sanders McNew
www.mcnew.net


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