Digital BW, The Print

That's what I just said. Limit your black channel or your going to
loose dmax. It is over inking, just like everyone has been talking
about here. It is definately going to happen with the ABM Epson driver
or QTR if you aren't careful and aware of it. 

What I like about the paper is that is very smooth and sharp, much
more so than Photorag for small prints. Premier Art Hotpress is also
but for some reason it produces a strange reddish or bluish cast
depending on the inkset used. I hate Premier Art for monochrome. I
like the color of the Crane PR with sepia inks but I certainly
wouldn't use it as my primary paper for neutral toned work.

Richard, how is the world are you getting a 1.72 dmax on Photorag with
that inkset of yours? You must have put some dye in that black
channel. I've never seen a pure pigment go that high on matte papers
under the best conditions. The best I can get is 1.69 on a very good
day. Are you seeing bronzing with your inks on the fiber gloss papers,
or can one avoid the nasty sprays? 

john



> 
> I was very surprised to find that the 100% patch on the step wedge was
> no longer solid black. It looks as if the paper has been overloaded
> and it's density measures significantly less than the 95% patch. When
> I checked the calibration strip the highest reading I now get is 1.57,
> versus 1.63 before. Also, the points I used to build my curve (i.e.
> ink limit) has shifted.
> 
> I went back to some old prints and indeed, they still measure as
> expected (i.e. my spectro is fine). I tried a new black cartridge and
> also aligned the printer heads (2200). There was a slight improvement,
> but relatively little.
> 
> Something is out of whack.
> 
> Terry.
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Wolfson"
> <rw@> wrote:
> >
> > I like Crane's Museo Portfolio Rag very much for my black & white
> printing. Here are some of my Dmax measurements with a few
> comparisons. Note that I'm using the new GQ2 ink set I designed for
> Media Street.
> > 
> > Paper					Dmax	   K limit
> > Museo Portfolio Rag		1.64		 50%
> > Hahnemuhle Photo Rag		1.72		100%
> > Museo Silver Rag
> >   K = Photo Black Neutral	2.09		 63%
> >   K = Matte Black			1.77		100%
> > 
> > I agree with John Dean: you have to limit the inks on Crane's
> papers, and it is a beautiful paper. Since it has no optical
> brightener, it is a little warmer (but just a little) than Hahnemuhle
> Photo Rag. 
> > 
> > Since the GQ2 ink set includes both warm and cold grays in its seven
> inks, it's easy to adjust how warm the b&w prints should be. I build
> Cold, Warm, and Neutral profiles, and Roy Harrington's latest
> QuadToneRIP offers "Split Tone Curve Blending." That makes it easy to
> blend those three profiles for beautiful platinum prints (warm in the
> light to mid tones, neutral to cool in the darker tones) on papers
> like Crane's.
> > 
> > Richard
> > 
> > Richard Wolfson
> > black & white digital printmaker
> > www.RichardWolfson.com
> > 
> > 
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> >
>