Digital BW, The Print

--- In 
DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "canineconspiracy" 
<canineconspiracy@y...> wrote:
> 
> 
> Has anyone here made negatives with their epson or hp printers that
> would be used to make alternative process prints (platinum, 
kallitype,
> gum bichromate, etc.) ? 
> I'm thinking of purchasing an Epson 3000 using MIS inks to make
> negatives on overhead transparency film. Any suggestions?
> 
> DA

Hi DA

I recently went through a two-week stint of making silver gel prints 
from digital negs; here's the approach I used:

My printer for the project was an Epson R300; I originally bought it 
so I can print directly to CDs (I kept having this repeating 
nightmare of a label flying of and ruining a client's CD drive) but 
I discovered that the 3 picoliter droplet size worked well for negs. 
The R200 is the same machine minus the card reader for only $100.00. 
I think this droplet size is the upper limit if you want 'grainless' 
negs, and I don't think the 3000 will get even close. Of course if 
you're going to an alternative process that won't be hurt by some 
extra grit, it might work. The 3000 also has other problems, 
including diminishing support and parts availbility-it is much too 
late in its life-cycle to get into one now.

I started out trying Dan Burkholdter's method, on Pictorico film, 
but am now using a film called Proofline Super Clear. It holds much 
more ink, and will get up to the contrast you need much easier than 
Pictorico. The dye inks work better on this film, pigments won't get 
the contrast I wanted. The film does have one quirk however: if you 
leave it out unprotected for a while, it seems to develop a haze 
that effectively reduces the sharpness of your prints. If you're 
after a soft 'old-timey' look that might be beneficial, but I 
wasn't. Now I make the neg, give it a couple hours to dry, and print 
it right away. 

I am still using Dan's approach of 'colorizing' the image, that is 
applying a curve that makes it very yellow-orange with virtually no 
cyan or black. In the end though, I worked out my own curves, I 
couldn't get the contrast I needed out of those I downloaded from 
Dan's website.

I'm looking for a chance to try this with the R800 and OEM inks, 
anyone with that machine interested? If it works, the R1800 might be 
the best yet for negs, considering the wider format and 1.5 
picoliter droplet size.

Steve Karafyllakis