Digital BW, The Print

Thanks for sharing your experience. What did you mean by "using the 
printers full bore ink rendition?

Al Charbonneau

 In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Scott Jones" 
<peanutdogs@h...> wrote:
> My experience with making injet digital negatives for silver prints
> 
> Being somewhat frustrated by my lack of more precise control in the
> traditional darkroom now that I have been exposed to Photoshop, I 
> have experimented with Mark Nelson's Precision Digital Negative 
> system to make black and white digital injet negatives and then 
> contact print them on silver paper.
> 
> I have used my Epson R800 printer and Pictorico White film for the 
> negative. I have used Ilford Multigrade IV fiber glossy paper and 
> traditional processing with selenium toning. I feel that I have 
been 
> completely sucessful and have been able to avoid the microbanding 
> that others have complained about.
> 
> Here are more details:
> 
> The precision Digital Negative process uses these steps.
> 
> -Determine a standard silver printing time with a 21 step wedge
> -determine a color density to use for printing the negative
> -use this to fit the range of tones to the paper and process
> -print a negative with a full range of tones using the above steps 
> and make a contact print
> -measure those contact printed tones with a densitometer or 
scanner.
> -manufacture a correction Photoshop curve to linearize those tones.
> 
> What this gives you is a repeatable process that takes advantage 
of 
> the full range of your paper and makes it possible to transfer 
what 
> you see on the screen directly to your darkroom paper. No more 
> manual dodging, burning, flashing, contrast filter manipulation, 
> exposure determination,unsharp masking, waiting for drydown etc.
> The Precision Digital Negative system gives you all the 
instructions 
> and the software to do all the steps very precisely so that all of 
> this is repeatable once you calibrate your working environment.
> 
> I noticed two main things as I worked my way through this prcess.
> 
> First, the system has you pick a color density of ink to use for 
> making the negative because I believe most people who use this 
> system are interested in platinum work where UV light is used and 
> therefore using the different color inks can make a difference 
here. 
> I found that for silver work, choosing just a color of ink did not 
> supply enough density to fit a full range of tones on variable 
> contrast paper without cranking the contrast filter of my enlarger
> (used as a fancy contact printing light source) way up to level 
five 
> and this did not look good at all. So I fell back on using the 
> printer's full bore ink rendition of producing a black and white 
> negative with all the color inks. Now it was possible to make a 
> negative that worked with varible contrast paper set at the filter 
> #1 level and the results looked great.
> 
> Secondly, I found that indeed I did get very faint microbanding 
when 
> I printed the inkjet negative at the "best photo" setting of the 
> R800 which corresponds to a dpi setting of 2880. It was very faint 
> and only visible in the creamy highlights of skin tones. My 
friends 
> didn't see it until I pointed it out and then they could. I was 
not 
> satisfied with this and felt maybe this process couldn't be done 
> well with silver paper. BUT, I tried again with the "RPM" setting 
on 
> the Epson driver which corresponds to a dpi setting of 5760. Well, 
> after recalibrating the process to this new dpi setting, the 
results 
> were fabulous. Recalibrating the system was absolutely necessary 
in 
> that it was clear that the ink was laid down with very different 
> density at this higher setting. This step solved, in my system,
> the microbanding issue that some have spoken of in forums. I 
believe 
> now that this print is indistinguishable from my enlarger made 
print 
> except that the control of the tones is so much better than I am 
> amazed.
> 
> This was an 8x10 negative and print. My original plan was to 
upgrade 
> to the R1800 printer so that I could make 11x14 negatives and 
> prints. With the new Epson R2400 coming out, I will hold off to 
see 
> what that printer will be like. However, both printers offer 
> the "RPM" or 5760 dpi setting that appears to be crucial to 
getting 
> rid of the light microbanding on exceptionally unforgiving silver 
> gelatin paper. My suspicion is that this might not work with the 
> 2200 printer. For platinum work on art papers, this system will 
have 
> no problems and if I did those processes, I would be all over this 
> system in a heart beat!
> 
> So there you have it. After a month of experimenting, I feel that 
> this sytem will truly work with the current newest Epson printers 
> and may be an ideal hybridization between the control of Photoshop 
> and the wonderful dmax and luster/feel of silver gelatin papers.
> 
> Please feel free to comment.