Digital BW, The Print

This has been my experience with the R200, and limited experience with the
2200 (oem inks in 2200, I no longer use them for BW).
2880 is sharper and smoother than 1440 on gloss/semi-gloss, if the following
is true.

Don’t print on the first and last inch where the feed mechanism is not so
precise and microbanding often appears.

Set ink limits and densities by very critical examination of the way the
inks are received by the paper.  There is a fine line between sharp dots and
muddled dots at max gray ink, and Dmax, especially so with variable tone ink
sets.

Set ink partition densities to use significant amounts of each gray tone.
Run the light inks further into the darker inks, which results in more dots
laid down over the entire range.  Taking this too far will create dark dots,
so there is a tradeoff that I am still playing with.  Note this would be the
most costly way to print since it uses much more ink, obviously not for
everyone.

Before linearization, refine the curves until the deviation from ideal L* is
<2, paying particular attention to achieve a smooth slope from 85 to 100%
ink.  The better I achieve this goal, the smoother the ramps become, to the
point that 256 gray levels seems restrictive of what the printer is capable
of.

I’m still in the exploring/learning stage with BW and rips, and looking to
share experiences, so don’t take these comments too seriously.

Best regards,
John Moody

-----Original Message-----
From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of djon43
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 10:49 AM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] 2880 dpi Vs 1440 dpi ?

As we all know Epson WILL print at 1440dpi..if we make no selection it
defaults/resamples to 720dpi, which "works" even on photocopy paper.

1440 is obviously more attractive on photo papers than 720dpi
(visually/loupe) even on relatively soft papers (eg iplug up on
Entrada)...also better than 2880dpi, especially on soft papers...

***what I don't understand is why that driver offers 2880dpi: that
setting seems counterproductive even on the sharpest of papers (eg.
Kirkland and Kokopelli). What is the utility of 2880dpi?

***2880dpi obviously does want to plug up dots (like lithography with
a too-fine halftone screen) so seems a more risky choice than 1440dpi.

***Is there a *visual* advantage to using 2880dpi Vs 1440dpi IF one
tinkers carefully with ink limits?

Are there papers that will deliver more detail or beauty with 2880dpi
than 1440dpi? What are they? Special techniques?

Is 2880dpi intended for printing on a film base? Is it better than
1440dpi for that purpose?


The driver
> resamples (if necessary) images to 720ppi but prints at 720, 1440,
2880 or
> other dpi as selected.  There can be more dots per pixel than just 1.
>
> Steve
>




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