Digital BW, The Print

Hello All,

Lot of water under the bridge so far, will try to summarize...

* QTR-BO results have been good in that I have replicated the contrast
and density ok, but even the best of the dither patterns is not as
smooth as the 2200.  So QTR-BO over all is just fair.  It works ok for
some images, but is not anywhere near the fine results of the 2200.
Very disappointing.  I'm glad I bought the R200, it's close to the
2200 in BO quality (the only thing I've seen that beats the 2200 for
BO is the 4000).

* ABW mode...not much new to report.  Most attempts to match an Eboni
BO tone are futile dances all around the target.  Like a ring-around,
with as little as a 1 point coordinate change the print looks more
pinkish/greenish/yellowish/blueish...take your pick...than the pure BO
tone.  Very frustrating.   However, there is a glimmer of hope.  On
VFA with the VFA paper setting, the 0h/0v point produces a very nice
slightly warm tone that doesn't look colorized.  Also have found that
a setting of -2h/0v gives a very pleasing neutral tone on Condor BW. 
So I know it's possible.  It's amazing how sensitive this process is
to the slightest change.

* QTR-2K experiments - am now experimenting with MK/LK + LC/LM for
toning and have proof of concept (will put more comments about this in
another thread).  I think this is going to work, but lots more to be
done.  Early results are consistant with earlier 2K experiments with
MIS mixed inks, in that luminance and dmax are a tiny bit less than BO
but significantly better than K3 and other full ink sets (however K3
has surprised me with its excellent luminance on some papers,
particularly VFA; Please also note that I did NOT say that K3 has poor
dmax, just that 2K is a bit better).  Smoothness also fits right
between the two: much smoother than BO but retains a tiny bit of the
"edge" that looks so nice.  Looking at the same image on 2K and K3
prints side by side (EEM), the 2K version has better dmax, better
luminance (the K3 print looks dull in comparison), and a nicer sense
of "presence".  Another advantage of this 2k approach is that it
contains no yellow.   All of this has been with MK, I'm looking
forward to getting some Eboni in here.  I think this is going to be a
winner.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm