Digital BW, The Print

As promised the DIMA B&W Digital Printer shootout details:

First of all the target image was printed as a b&w print from a digital file
onto Fuji Crystal Archive paper. Each participant received the target print
and the digital file that it was created from. The target is an 8x10 file of
which 1.5 linear inches is comprised of gradation ramps, step wedges,
resolution wheels, white type  on black fields, black type on white fields.
The remainder is comprised of subject photographs such as a woman with lots
of skin exposed and long black hair, a photo of two children with blond
hair, and a number of other smaller subjects. There is a very gradual
gradation background, and then some very strong graphics. It is a microcosm
of a number of subjects and tests. The judging criteria was based on
Artifacts, Fine Detail, Shadow Detail, Skin Tones, and Color Accuracy. And
there was at least one entry which had very strong color casts to the point
that it appeared that magenta was the dominant tone!


The tests submitted were (in no particular order):

- (WINNER)   EPSON 1280 printer, PiezographyBW ICC profile, PiezoTone
Selenium Tone inks, Piezography Museum White Paper.


-EPSON 1160 printer, PiezographyBW plugin, PiezoTone Warm Neutral inks,
Ilford Galerie Smooth Fine Art paper.

-EPSON Stylus Pro 9000 printer, ImagePrint RIP, Selenium Tone inks,
Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper.

-ColorSpan X-12 printer, ColorMark Pro RIP, ColorSpan SolaChrome 4 black
inks, ColorSpan Matte Photobase paper.

-ColorSpan X-12 printer, ColorMark Pro RIP, ColorSpan Endura Chrome 11 color
inks, ColorSpan Matte Photobase paper.

-EPSON 2200 printer, R9 Septone plugin, Septone inks, Moab Entrada paper.

-HP Photosmart 7960 printer, HP inks with grays cartridge, HP Gloss paper.

-HP Photosmart 7960 printer, HP inks with grays cartridge, HP Mattte paper

-EPSON 4000 printer, ColorBurst X-Photo RIP, EPSON UltraChrome inks, EPSON
Premium Photo Glossy paper.

-EPSON 7000 printer, ColorBurst X-Photo RIP, PiezoTone Selenium Tone inks,
EPSON Enhanced Matte paper.

-EPSON 9500 printer, StudioPrint RIP, PiezoTone Carbon Sepia inks,
Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper.

-EPSON 2200 printer, Lyson Cave Pigment inks, Lyson Photo Velvet Paper.

-EPSON 9000 printer, PiezographyBW ICC profile, PiezoTone Warm Neutral inks,
Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper.



It was not a beauty contest, simply a printer shootout, and we thought that
the competition was very good. Perhaps next year there will be even more
entries in what is becoming a very interesting and crowded field. Or perhaps
there will be more than one b&w category. We certainly plan to enter some
new b&w product concepts by then. There is still much work to be done in the
b&w category, and now more than ever there are both small and large
companies taking a serious look at it.

For the color categories there were many more entries, but then again, there
are many more manufacturers and vendors of color products. The color
categories were numerous ranging from materials to sizes to costs. Many
individual category awards.

There was also a digital camera shootout which seems to be one of the most
popular draws at the conference and had the most entries and many
categories.

Finally, there were innovative product awards.

All of these awards were given to products, printers, cameras, and
processes, that had entered the various shoot-outs. It is not possible to be
considered without making an official entry because naturally, every
submission operates under the same guidelines and restrictions.


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may your highlights be dotless
and your tonal scale smooth,


Jon Cone
Piezography� brand software and inks
http://www.piezography.com
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