Digital BW, The Print

And I agree with you. I wish there was a sensible way to monitor this stuff,
but I really don't want to get caught up in scanning test strips and the
like. Plus the way inks mix in cartridges when we add new to old, really
makes honing in on the roots of problems tricky.

It's why I tweak-for-print on an adjustment layer, so it's readily variable.

That you have to make the tweak on an image by image basis does seem
unusually cruel though. Good luck.

Todd

> I agree with you. I've been pulling my hair out with this. I just couldn't
> get a handle on it at all. I'm not talking about little differences either.
> I think when things happen over time you just adjust slightly each time. I
> also know piezo very well so I was a little disconcerted that I couldn't get
> a consistant action together to process old files. I've been through 3 1160s
> and 3 cis units, but even prints made on the same system were showing
> discrepencies. Nothing to do with Piezo IMO, just a whole host of different
> factors - it caught me unawares though.
> 
> Julian

>> What we don't know is if the MIS inks will show density variations over
> time
>> too. I guess none of us, regardless of inkset, run calibration strips each
>> morning to check consistency. What we don't know is if all inks
>> settle/evaporate/change over time, how good batch to batch consistency is,
>> or the random effects the printers themselves (as evidenced in sporadic
>> microbanding etc,) seem to impose over time, not to mention paper batch
>> differences, environmental conditions, and that the "control prints" shift
>> over time.
>> 
>> IOW, it might just be that Piezo inks have been in use longer, giving us
>> time to study them longer, but much of what is being attributable to brand
>> differences may be far more broad based than that.
>> 
>> All I know is I use MIS VM now, but I feel in no way free from fear. I
> think
>> all this stuff is tricky!
>> 
>> Todd
>> 
>>> Now here is a funny thing. Mike and Paul both told me that FS printed
>>> lighter than Piezo. Reworking some protfolio prints I found the opposite
> to
>>> be true, with FS needing a 'lift' adjustment. But going back to some
> REALLY
>>> old prints, all I need to do to replicate the piezo prints is to pull
> down
>>> the gamma a touch in curves and lift the toe of the blacks. It looks
> like I
>>> did have some variation (big) in density with piezo. Printing for the
> last
>>> exhibition I had to do some curves adjustments to get the prints to
> match
>>> the older portfolio prints but I put it down to an aging effect. Not so
> I
>>> think. This Piezo is tricky stuff!
>>> 
>>> Julian