Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Stephen
Petegorsky <petegorsky@e...> wrote:
>
> Mark - I would be careful about using that scale for ANY kind of
reference.

Well, I did use the word "repulsive" when describing it.

> They were made with offset lithography,

Are you sure about that? The gray scale in my Q-13 package has about
1mm overlap between each patch, and they really look like they were
sprayed. If they're offset litho, they were done with a remarkably
fine pitch stochastic dither of some sort. Now, the color separation
scale looks like a bog standard fine pitch lith.

> meaning that there wasn't that much
> ink put down on the cards, and the ink that is laid down is not very
> lightfast.  If you've had a scale for any length of time, you'll
notice that
> after a while (especially if they have been exposed to a lot of
light) the
> grays don't stay neutral along the scale.  Some will be obviously more
> magenta than others, etc.

Mine looked like that the day I got it, and it was from fresh stock.
Patches 2, 3, 4, and 5 are offensively magenta. Patches 1, 6, and 10
are definitely warm. Patches 6, 11, 13, and 17 are glossier than the
rest, at an angle it looks like a row of broken teeth.

It still looks just like the day I received it, but it lives in the
dark in a refrigerator. It's not dated, but it bears a "(C) The Tiffen
Company, 2000", and was purchased in late 2000. 
 
> I don't know how old the scale was that Joe was kind enough to
measure, but
> you might ask him if it showed any signs of aging.
> 
> These days the more standard reference for digital imaging tends to
be the
> Gretag color/gray scale chart (large and small are available, but
they are
> expensive) that is made with silk screen printing.

Do you mean the 24 square Macbeth Color Checker?

> Much more ink is put
> down on these cards, and they are relatively stable compared to the
Kodak
> ones.

The color checker uses paint, and it is sprayed. 

I second the recommendation, it's a much more robust chart, metamerism
free, and the colors are more useful. The paints are complex, designed
to mimic the metamerism characteristics of common "stuff", i.e. the
"flesh" square looks like a flesh tone under sunlight, fluorescent
light, or incandescent light.