Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, CDTobie@... wrote:
>
> 
> In a message dated 11/7/06 11:25:38 AM, e.neilsen2@... writes:
> 
> 
> > 
> > I am sure that we can all make gray scale ramps from our settings
if that
> > truly would mean something. However, as a silver printer for many
years, I
> > know that there are many ways to skin a cat, and file prep for
printing will
> > vary as does negative creation and printing still do in the land
of silver.
> > 
> 
> The way I see it is this: everyone was shocked by the level of
variation of 
> the different systems on a standard file, in the "A" prints.

Well, I hope everyone has recovered, must have been awful. I can't
stay out of this any more, the dialogue has become simply silly.
Of course they were all different. We were instructed to leave the
file in the tagged space, no adjustment of any kind. Had we been
allowed to color manage, not doubt the differences would all but
disapeared.
Basically, the A versions showed raw output, there was no reason to
expect ANY a version to acurately represent the file. How people chose
to deal with this I don't know.


>...Eric's Piezo Sepia prints were nicely 
> optimized... but for a system with a significantly lower d-max and a
heavy color 
> tint, so that put them in a different range. They look great by
themselves, 
> but weak on a wall of prints with deeper blacks.

The Peizo systems do not have a lower dmax than the majority of MK
systems out there. In fact, I can't reach my Piezo dmax with my UCK3
9800 OEM setup. People familiar with these systems on this list over
the years know that.
What Eric may or may not have done to his file is unknown.
There was nothing below 95% K in the file to begin with. So the A
versions that were not cheated would have given no indications of any
system's damx capability. Systems that are wide open would have seemed
weaker than systems more plugged up, as that 95% would have been
darker, particularly unmanaged.
What anyone did with endpoints editing in the B versions is unknown. 

There was no K in the file, particularly to be seen in the A versions.
Tyler