Digital BW, The Print

Bill,

answers below:


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, BKPhoto@a... wrote:
>
> Jon-
> 
> Thanks for the clarification on the ink formulation; it fills in 
> another blank for me. It would be very helpful if you would elaborate 
> on the relationship between the print profiles you're authoring for 
> K7/QTR and the linearization issue. If I've understood you correctly: 
> you're saying that the authoring process reduces the need to linearize. 
> It would make sense to me if the machines we're using stayed in a 
> factory calibrated state, or were self-calibrating. My experience is 
> that machines do drift as they are used and there are other 
> factors--ink stock and paper stock, even environmental issues--that 
> affect the calibrated state of a printing system.
> 
> Any insight you can provide would be very useful. I'm not asking for 
> proprietary information, just a better understanding of the 
> relationship between these issues and how you've addressed them.


Another way of saying it is there may be less to gain with linearizing a printer and creating 
simple curves - then to accept the state of the printer but use an elaborate profile which 
has many overlapping layers of ink to hide any potential flaws in the linearization. 

Its not just linearization, although linearization is important. In this case its also the 
quality of the profile.  In our free curve files for QTR there is a generic linearization in 
combination with an exceptional profile. The linearization is averaged over three different 
2200 printers (we think that is important rather than using a single example). But the 
elaborate ink curves if you could see them would boggle you. You couldn't make that by 
hand or with an instrument using the QTR curves generator. That is what makes the 
difference.



> There is one additional question you might address: the dmax of the K7 
> inks. Is it possible to increase the dmax, or are there inherent 
> limitations or other factors that impose a limit?



Well if its TRULY pure pigment there is a limit. We chose to go pure pigment on the K7 set. 
Adding even a trace of dye increases dMax. But we're not doing it in this set. We found 
that we could get greater dMax via QTR than the EPSON driver, or even our old plugin. So 
we decided not to compromise longevity with even a trace amount of dye.

regards,

Jon