Digital BW, The Print

Hi!

I've read several times that there is a program called "Powerrip" that
makes fantastic prints. What exactly is it? I've downloaded the demo
and don't know what to do with it. I want to print B/W with my Epson
1280, so is this a driver for my printer or what? What are its
advantages in comparison to the original drivers? I'm also planning to
order the MIS Hextone ink. I've read that I need certain workflows for
them (John Woolf etc.). Does Powerrip make this step unnecessary? And
finally... can you suggest me some settings for a newbie in powerrip
that will get the best out of my printer and paper (epson archival
matte)?

Thanks a lot!

Peter

PowerRIP doesn't make any more fantastic prints than the regular Epson
driver, in fact the dithering is slightly more coarse so staying with
the Epson driver would have been preferrable. However, it specifically
fixes the problem with metamerism on the 2100 which is a highly wanted
feature for those of us who own that printer. I have no idea whether
this still holds true for the 1280. Because the 1280 doesn't have a
light black I doubt it.

The best settings on my 2100 are to use 'Postscript color management'
when printing from photoshop and setting 2880dpi and Archival Matte
paper with matte black ink (assuming you're using that combination) in
the driver. Other than that I make no special adjustments. I made a
curve that I find useful for matching a 21 step wedge to a reference
card, but for real pictures I usually don't use it.

The MIS inks will probably give you the best prints though.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com,
peter.bongard@t... wrote:

> Hi!
> 
> I've read several times that there is a program called "Powerrip" that
> makes fantastic prints. What exactly is it? I've downloaded the demo
> and don't know what to do with it. I want to print B/W with my Epson
> 1280, so is this a driver for my printer or what? What are its
> advantages in comparison to the original drivers? I'm also planning to
> order the MIS Hextone ink. I've read that I need certain workflows for
> them (John Woolf etc.). Does Powerrip make this step unnecessary? And
> finally... can you suggest me some settings for a newbie in powerrip
> that will get the best out of my printer and paper (epson archival
> matte)?
> 
> Thanks a lot!
> 
> Peter

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "danielstaver 
<daniel@p...>" <daniel@p...> wrote:
> PowerRIP doesn't make any more fantastic prints than the regular 
Epson
> driver, in fact the dithering is slightly more coarse so staying 
with
> the Epson driver would have been preferrable. 

So you dont't think that I need PowerRip when using the MIS Hextone 
Inks and one of the workflows that come with the inks? 

> The best settings on my 2100 are to use 'Postscript color management

> when printing from photoshop and setting 2880dpi and Archival Matte
> paper with matte black ink (assuming you're using that combination) 
in
> the driver. 

So the workflow would be the following: Scan the B/W-Negative as 16-
bit RGB, make the adjustments in PS and then print it in Photoshop 
(as 8 or 16 bit?) with "PowerRIP Stylus Photo 1280" (or PowerRIP 
PDF?). When I go to "properties" (I hope this is the english word for 
the options you can change before printing the picture) there are 
several options like Color Control, Halftoning, Color Control and 
Postscript output Format. Can you suggest me the settings for these 
options? 

Other than that I make no special adjustments. I made a
> curve that I find useful for matching a 21 step wedge to a reference
> card, but for real pictures I usually don't use it.
> 
> The MIS inks will probably give you the best prints though.

So PowerRIP works with the MIS Hextone inks and will give better 
results than one of the Workflows on the MIS homepage? 
Sorry for the Newbie-Questions!
Regards

Peter

> So the workflow would be the following: Scan the B/W-Negative as 16-
> bit RGB, make the adjustments in PS and then print it in Photoshop 
> (as 8 or 16 bit?) with "PowerRIP Stylus Photo 1280" (or PowerRIP 
> PDF?). When I go to "properties" (I hope this is the english word for 
> the options you can change before printing the picture) there are 
> several options like Color Control, Halftoning, Color Control and 
> Postscript output Format. Can you suggest me the settings for these 
> options? 

I just leave everything at default except DPI and paper/inktype. I
think most of the other options are probably only interesting if you
have specific needs for Postscript output.
 
> Other than that I make no special adjustments. I made a
> > curve that I find useful for matching a 21 step wedge to a reference
> > card, but for real pictures I usually don't use it.
> > 
> > The MIS inks will probably give you the best prints though.
> 
> So PowerRIP works with the MIS Hextone inks and will give better 
> results than one of the Workflows on the MIS homepage? 

No, I don't think you need PowerRIP at all. Try one of the workflows
instead. PowerRIP is probably only useful to someone who wants to get
rid of metamerism on the 2100 printer, I can't really see any other
use for it for printing photographs. But since you already have it
installed, maybe you could give us some feedback on what the prints
look like on your 1280 compared to the Epson driver?

> Sorry for the Newbie-Questions!

No need to excuse yourself, we're all here to learn :)

Hello

I've tried PowerRIP on an 1160 and 1290, and found both inferior to using
the Epson drivers, with banding and somewhat coarse dithering.

To be fair, it is sold as a proofing solution rather than for photos. I was
told by someone on a Mac group that it does however handle weird and complex
postscript very well!

There is a new Mac OSX version available as a demo -- has anyone tried it?

bye for now   

Keith Cooper

Northlight Images
http://northlight-images.co.uk
Photography - Digital Imaging - Apple Mac Consultancy

Tel +44 (0)116 291 9092 Mobile +44 (0)780 162 9397

I haven't seen banding in any of the prints I've made on my 2100, but
I don't really see why anoyone would want to use it on another printer
either, since the only useful thing it does is to get rid of
metamerism om the 2100 - if you're don't need Postscript that is. And
if it's really true that the Epson RIP produces prints free of
metamerism that is probably the better (and cheaper) choice.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Keith Cooper
<yahoogroups@n...> wrote:
> Hello
> 
> I've tried PowerRIP on an 1160 and 1290, and found both inferior to
using
> the Epson drivers, with banding and somewhat coarse dithering.
> 
> To be fair, it is sold as a proofing solution rather than for
photos. I was
> told by someone on a Mac group that it does however handle weird and
complex
> postscript very well!
> 
> There is a new Mac OSX version available as a demo -- has anyone
tried it?

> 
> bye for now   
> 
> Keith Cooper
> 
> Northlight Images
> http://northlight-images.co.uk
> Photography - Digital Imaging - Apple Mac Consultancy
> 
> Tel +44 (0)116 291 9092 Mobile +44 (0)780 162 9397