Digital BW, The Print

Well, a month after I thought I would dive in and create my
own curves for Moab Kayenta (2200 with UC inks), I managed to
read through the docs, but otherwise have sat on my hands.

I realize now that one point of ignorance/indecision/inaction is my
complete lack of knowledge of densitometers, how they work.
with what software they might work and so on.   I have an
Eye One Display, but not Photo, so I guess I'll have to pick up
a new piece of kit to get my curve-creation groove going.

Is there any descriptions of densitometers and associated
software, their relative merits, costs and so on?  Any suggested
devices or packages?  Especially for a guy on a budget? What about
calibrating said devices?  I read the list here pretty carefully and
there seem to be a bewildering (to me) array of options, tools and
issues.

Thanks much for all and any enlightenment.

Scott

Hello Scott,
You will recieve a lot of advice about a variety of such instruments
with cost ranging from several hundred $(used off of E'bay) to upwards
of a $1000 or better. All good ,if expensive ,solutions. However, you
probably allready have what can be used to get the job done well
enough to tell if you truly have a need for more. If you are using
photoshop and have a flatbed scanner you can do the job. If you are
working with QTR you can evaluate the ink limiting step visualy well
enough without need for more. Once you are doing the 21 step scale and
working at linearising the inks, you can simply scan your test strip
in grayscale, use curves to set the white to 0 and set the black to
100%. Then convert to Lab readings and read the steps with the
eyedropper. Just plug those numbers into the linearise step for QTR
and away you go. QTR is all the other software you need and it costs
nothing to try and not much if you decide to use it after that.

Even if you get convinced that it can't be that easy, try it
anyway.You might actually find another use for your money and avoid
all the learning curves involved with parsing the info you recieve
about various instruments and the opinions about which is absolutely
essential etc etc.

Regards
Duane


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Scott McLoughlin
<scott@a...> wrote:

> Well, a month after I thought I would dive in and create my
> own curves for Moab Kayenta (2200 with UC inks), I managed to
> read through the docs, but otherwise have sat on my hands.
> 
> I realize now that one point of ignorance/indecision/inaction is my
> complete lack of knowledge of densitometers, how they work.
> with what software they might work and so on.   I have an
> Eye One Display, but not Photo, so I guess I'll have to pick up
> a new piece of kit to get my curve-creation groove going.
> 
> Is there any descriptions of densitometers and associated
> software, their relative merits, costs and so on?  Any suggested
> devices or packages?  Especially for a guy on a budget? What about
> calibrating said devices?  I read the list here pretty carefully and
> there seem to be a bewildering (to me) array of options, tools and
> issues.
> 
> Thanks much for all and any enlightenment.
> 
> Scott