Digital BW, The Print

I'm willing to put in the time, as long as I know I'll be starting out  
with an inkset that's in the right ballpark. When I did darkroom work,  
it didn't take long for me to find a paper/developer/toner combination  
that I was happy with. Had I continued in that process, and had Agfa  
not re-formulated and then discontinued Portriga, I would have been  
content using that paper for the rest of my life. That was a  
relatively easy decision - buy a box of every commonly available  
paper, and go at it.

This is a bit more difficult. I can still experiment with papers  
fairly easily, but I'd rather not run through the gamut of inksets. I  
just can't afford to do that.

I've spent a lot of time on Paul Roark's site - it's a wonderful and  
very generous resource, but frankly, I'm not yet up to it  
technically.  I've got PrintFix Pro, along with the  
spectrocolorimeter, and I could probably knuckle down and learn about  
LAB values and Dmax, but I'd like to take advantage of the research  
others have done in order to find a starting point first.



On Feb 3, 2010, at 1:31 PM, dlruckus wrote:

> IMHO like most things, the key to cost containment is in sweat  
> equity and DIY. Getting into dedicated B&W printing need not be all  
> that expensive either for inks or machines. It does require lots of  
> time,has a steep learning curve and requires considerable patience  
> along the way. A few on the list might even replace that last term  
> with "a degree of obstinate stupidity". I ,of course, wouldn't be  
> one of those few ;)
> If you feel you should be making a change in the way you are doing  
> things but aren't certain, my suggestion would be that you take a  
> look at Paul Roark's web site as well as search back in time on this  
> group for his various postings on B&W solutions(be prepared for a  
> lot of reading up on the topic but it will be worth your time).
> There are various ways to get whatever colors you are looking for.
>
> Regards
> Duane
>
>
> 



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