Digital BW, The Print

Hello Scott,

>OK so I've been having a lot of fun but I'm having a hard time with
>soft proofing. I have a Epson R220 and have been making some prints
>with the Eboni Black on EEM BO. I find printing with gamma 2.2 too
>dark so I've been printing at 1.8. Secondly, I find if I print with a
>viewing mode of RGB in PS CS, I get a lighter print that more closely
>resembles what I see on my screen compared to printing from a
>Grayscale viewing mode. I think that has to do with how the printer
>handles the conversion since the Grayscale image and RGB image look
>the same on my screen. Now I haven't made a Grayscale print at gamma
>2.2 yet-

Sounds like you're on the right track and close to what I found to be
optimum for BO with the 1.8 printer gamma setting and DG20 front end.
I can't comment on the RGB vs grayscale part.  I use grayscale but
for the front end instead of DG20 I use a custom DG18 curve which
gives even better WYSIWYG than DG20 (article #4 at the link below has
a section called "Custom Front End Profiles" which explains how to do
this).  I don't know how it would compare to your RGB setting.

>...I'm going through a lot of paper...

Sounds you're close to finding your optimum settings.  Once you nail
it down all this testing will cease and you can concentrate on the
real work.  Remember that your settings may differ from someone else's
because of differences in video card or monitor settings.  You have to
find what works best for you.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm