Digital BW, The Print

I received my copy of ImagePrint 5 last week. The installation 
instructions were concise and easy to follow. It is important to 
follow them exactly as there is one process in Windows that must be 
stopped in order to remove the ImagePrint sub-directory.  Once the 
ImagePrint 4 software has been removed, installation of the 
ImagePrint 5 software is a snap. No problems installing as with the 
earlier IP4 versions, at least not on a W2000 box. I have not 
installed IP5 on my Mac G4 at home as of this date.

Of recent, I have been making digital negatives on my Epson 1280 and 
Epson 10000 for contact printing on 100% Palladium hand coated Arches 
Platine 100% cotton, fine art paper.  Unfortunately although the 
Imageprint 4 negatives were lovely with most images, smooth graduated 
skies posed the bigged problems. The dither of the old IP4 RIP would 
result in banding when contact printed in palladium.

So far, I am very pleased with the ImagePrint 5 RIP. Absolutely no 
dither, no banding, no dots, no grain, no digital artifacts. Just as 
the company claims. My negatives are smooth as silk.

Please keep in mind that I am NOT printing with monochrome quads, but 
rather Epson Durabrite Dyes on Pictorico OHP. Obviously a Pictorico 
OHP profile is not provided, so I sent a calibration target on the 
OHP to Colorbyte and look forward to it's return.

I am making my negatives with Dan Burkholders Color Table - Color 
Density method. This method results in a negative that is 
brown/orange in color. The color table values for the cmyk are 
0,55,55,0. I also have tired using all 6 colors to make a black/white 
negative with excellent results. The reason for the orange color 
negative is that this color acts to inhibit the passage of UV light, 
thus a thin negative in reality exhibits a significantly higher 
density range.

If the ImagePrint 5 RIP prints quads as well as it is my 
monochromatic orange negatives, I think folks are going to jump off 
of their seats. The total lack of dither and grain is amazing.

The interface seems very similar to the IP4 RIP. I have not had time 
to explore all of the subtle changes. I will say that now being able 
to print files created in the Photoshop .psd format is a welcome 
convenience.

Regards
Mike

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "mkravit" <mjkaia@k...> 
wrote:
> installation of the 
> ImagePrint 5 software is a snap. No problems installing as > > 
with the 
> earlier IP4 versions, at least not on a W2000 box. I have not 
> installed IP5 on my Mac G4 at home as of this date.


I did it today, and it  was a snap too after having done some 
settings  in the TCP/IP control panel. It worked right out of the box 
(with the old Cone inks btw)


> The dither of the old IP4 RIP would 
> result in banding when contact printed in palladium.

 I have experienced a banding problem with my PC version of IP 
4 after some minor upgrading procedures.  Though nozzle 
checks were perfect  I couldn´t get rid of the microbanding in the 
2/4 tones which hadn´t been there before upgrading. I went 
through the whole adjustment procedures of my 7500 machine, 
what was a real pain, and I did it two times.  Didn´t change the 
banding problem at all.

Today, after having installed IP5 on the MAC the 7500 prints as 
smooth as never before.
Quintessence:
1.:  I don´t blame the software, I don´t blame the printer, I blame 
myself, probably I messed something up during my IP4 
upgrading procedure, what caused the banding problem.
And 2. : the IP5 quad-dither is really *fantastique*.

The rest: dito Mike.

Best 
Bernd

> So far, I am very pleased with the ImagePrint 5 RIP. Absolutely 
no 
> dither, no banding, no dots, no grain, no digital artifacts. Just 
as 
> the company claims. My negatives are smooth as silk.
> 
> Please keep in mind that I am NOT printing with monochrome 
quads, but 
> rather Epson Durabrite Dyes on Pictorico OHP. Obviously a 
Pictorico 
> OHP profile is not provided, so I sent a calibration target on the 
> OHP to Colorbyte and look forward to it's return.
> 
> I am making my negatives with Dan Burkholders Color Table - 
Color 
> Density method. This method results in a negative that is 
> brown/orange in color. The color table values for the cmyk are 
> 0,55,55,0. I also have tired using all 6 colors to make a 
black/white 
> negative with excellent results. The reason for the orange color 
> negative is that this color acts to inhibit the passage of UV light, 
> thus a thin negative in reality exhibits a significantly higher 
> density range.
> 
> If the ImagePrint 5 RIP prints quads as well as it is my 
> monochromatic orange negatives, I think folks are going to 
jump off 
> of their seats. The total lack of dither and grain is amazing.
> 
> The interface seems very similar to the IP4 RIP. I have not had 
time 
> to explore all of the subtle changes. I will say that now being 
able 
> to print files created in the Photoshop .psd format is a 
welcome 

> convenience.
> 
> Regards
> Mike