Digital BW, The Print

Peter,

>I'm just starting to experiment with my new Epson
>1160/VM/Mac/Photoshop 5 setup. ...so far I've
>found that there are "inkjet dots" ... at the higher
>end of the wedge, ...

Some people do see some dots in the highlights.  If you only see them in the
"nc" and "cool" tone prints, they are probably the toner.

In actual prints at normal viewing distance (Kodak uses 14 inches in its
grain evaluation system), most are not aware of the dots.

The hextone printers do print smoother, however, with the MIS VM system.

>So my question is this, ultimately: What can I do differently so
>that my prints are "dotless" in the brighter areas?

If the dots are the toner, it will probably be difficult to improve the
situation with that printer.  If the dots are the cyan ink (which starts
just after 25%), then there is room for more light gray ink to be poured in
before the cyan is added.  I've just never had the incentive to do more with
those curves.

Of interest, the new VM-Sepia-Neutral inkset uses no toner for the neutral
end of its spectrum.  As such, the 5% patch on my 1160 with that inkset and
the Epson driver actually measured as smoother than Piezo.  (Piezo had a
slight edge is other highlight areas, however.)  The difference appears to
be the lack of toner and ink tone contrast.

As to tonal separation, it depends on where you're looking.  The curve is
relatively linear.  However, there is only so much dynamic range on a piece
of paper.  Basically you have the paper white and the depth of black.  On
the 1160 the Epson driver puts down a deeper black than Piezo, so there is
more tonal range with the Epson driver.  However, the total dynamic range of
paper is very limited.  Utilizing that limited range to make a print with
impact is a lot of what good printing is all about.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com