Digital BW, The Print

Don
It seems to me that you may have a long development time ahead of you to get
good results with VM inks. Good Luck. Make sure that you have a step wedge
as part of your neg and final print and use that to gauge your curve
adjustments

I never  got sufficient quality from the 1160 either with Epson or Piezo
inks and drivers to make good digital negs with Pictorico. Too much visible
banding and posterization.

BUT, if you can get hold of a good well setup Epson 1270 then with Dan's
workflow, Epson inks and Pictorico the results can be stunning. With
Platinum and other coated papers the process is a little more forgiving and
great results are fairly easily obtained. With glossy silver paper that will
cruelly show every artefact you will need a carefully controlled workflow
but the results can be totally indistinguishable from a projected print.
Strangely the 1270 works very well, but the 1280/1290 printers have a very
different ink laydown and are no good for me.

If you can get on one of Dan's workshops - do so - they are well worth it.

Adrian Joyner
Clevedon
England


----- Original Message -----

From: "donbga" <donbryant@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2002 5:06 PM
Subject: [Digital BW] Enlarged Digital Negatives


> Well I've finally worked up my nerve enough to attempt to make a
> digitally enlarged ink jet negative. I've been reading and re-reading
> Burkholder's second book on the topic and plan to use the Pictorico
> OHP Transparency Film and MIS-VM inks (cool tone) printed on an 1160.
> But of course I do have some questions.
>
> 1) What media type should I use in the Epson driver setting?
>
> 2) I plan on starting with the Piezo curve supplied by Dan on his web
> site unless someone can point me to a better solution. Since the
> Epson driver outputs in 8 bit instead of 16 bit (like the Cone
> software produces)  is there any chance that enough ink density can
> be sprayed onto the OHPTM?
>
> 3) Does it matter which order the two adjustment curves are applied?
> I would think that since Dan's curve is not partitioned his curve
> would need to be used first in gray scale mode. After which RGB
> conversion would be made to enable the VMQC curve. Does that make
> sense?
>
> 4) I assume that the MIS quad tone inks will need to be sprayed.
> Should I use the Krylon clear spray? How long does the spray have to
> dry? I've heard from another user on another list that the Krylon
> product compresses the mid-tones in platinum palladium prints. Any
> comments about this would be helpfull and appreciated.
>
> 5) Has anyone sucessfully made digital inkjet negatives for
> contacting onto silver gelatin papers? I would assume the approach
> would be similar to the platinum conversion. It seems to me that
> initially using silver gelatin paper would provide a quicker (and
> less expensive) iterative process than an alternative process such as
> platinum printing, at least to work out the basic kinks common to
> both.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Don Bryant
>
>
>

Adrian,

> It seems to me that you may have a long development time ahead of 
you to get
> good results with VM inks. Good Luck. Make sure that you have a 
step wedge
> as part of your neg and final print and use that to gauge your curve
> adjustments
> 
That goes without saying. As a matter of fact I was think about 
starting with a scan of a Souffer's 4x5 step tablet and contact 
printing the digital negative next to the real step tablet.

> I never  got sufficient quality from the 1160 either with Epson or 
Piezo
> inks and drivers to make good digital negs with Pictorico. Too much 
visible
> banding and posterization.
> 

By sufficient range do you mean not enough scale or poor gradation 
due to posterization?

> BUT, if you can get hold of a good well setup Epson 1270 then with 
Dan's
> workflow, Epson inks and Pictorico the results can be stunning. 

Part of my goal is not to use Epson inks if at all possible. Having 
said that what processes have you had success with using the 1270 and 
Epson ink?

> With
> Platinum and other coated papers the process is a little more 
forgiving and
> great results are fairly easily obtained. 

Hmmm, I think you may be generalizing here, have you created digital 
negs of alternative process printing?

> With glossy silver paper that will
> cruelly show every artefact you will need a carefully controlled 
workflow
> but the results can be totally indistinguishable from a projected 
print.
> Strangely the 1270 works very well, but the 1280/1290 printers have 
a very
> different ink laydown and are no good for me.
> 

I thik that is because the 1280 produces too much ink according to 
Burkholder. Maybe I should sell my 1160.

> If you can get on one of Dan's workshops - do so - they are well 
worth it.

Yes that is what I've heard. I've met Dan in Sante Fe, listened to 
him speak and he is quite a hoot; I'm sure his workshop would be 
great. I have a friend here in Atlanta that has taken his workshop 
and used the 1160 with Piezo inks and driver and got passable results 
until his printer clogged from the Piezo inkset. Eventually I will 
migrate over to the FS-N inkset and use the Piezo driver but not for 
a while. 

Thanks for the help,

Don Bryant

Don,

just a note on the 1160: I have recently been comparing prints from the 1160 
and the 7000.  The 1160 cannot match the smoothness of a hex printer. I am 
not sure about the 1270 vs 1280, and I am not suggesting you need a 7000 
for what you are doing. Just be aware that if you are going to examine things 
closely, you will see more "grain" and other artifacts with the 1160.

That said, the 1160 is a great all purpose printing machine, and results look 
great if one doesn't get "picky". But for silver prints, I would question it's 
usefulness.

Antonis



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "donbga" <donbryant@w...> wrote:

> > Strangely the 1270 works very well, but the 1280/1290 printers have 
> a very
> > different ink laydown and are no good for me.
> > 
> 

> I thik that is because the 1280 produces too much ink according to 
> Burkholder. Maybe I should sell my 1160.