Digital BW, The Print

In fairness to QTR you will have no problem with the rear feeder if you
follow the Epson instructions properly - it has nothing to do with QTR!  (I
have used it without problem with OS-X for two years.) The "flat look" can
be managed with an S curve in PS.  Paul effectively embeds an S curve in his
calibration of his curves.


> From: daniel <dnj@...>
> Reply-To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 14:12:36 -0000
> To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [Digital BW] Re: roark vs qtr - newbie q.
> 
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "jarrrush" <johnr@v...>
> wrote:
>> 
>> I am wondering is someone can compare QTR to Paul Roark's methodology
>> of making B and W prints from both an ease of use and technical
>> standpoint (print quality as you define it).
> 
> i use an epson 2200 under OS X. i tried QTR with only moderate success. i
> recently 
> switched to UT7 inks with the Roark curves, and i'm thrilled with the results.
> for me, the 
> Roark approach is better in the following respects:
> 
> 1. the prints look better. my QTR prints came out looking flat; the Roark ones
> seem to 
> have more life to them. also, the UT7 inks have a lovely look to them which i
> find much 
> more appealing than the ultrachrome inks. in bright light, the ink has a
> slight sparkle to it.
> nothing like a traditional darkroom print, but i love it.
> 
> 2. QTR was much less reliable. i couldn't use the envelope feeder at all,
> which meant that i
> couldn't print on heavy papers, and often the print job would get stuck. this
> lack of 
> reliability was almost certainly due to the gimp driver. the great advantage
> of the Roark 
> approach is that you can use the epson driver, which despite its stupid bugs
> (eg, the 
> failure to center prints properly), is much more reliable.
> 
> it's possible that bugs in the gimp driver were responsible for the flat look
> of the QTR 
> prints. it might also have been my lack of experience. when i tried QTR, a few
> months ago, 
> i didn't know how to apply S-curves properly.
> 
> /daniel
>