Digital BW, The Print

I am now printing seriously with the R2400, K3 inks and EPSG paper. I 
have also just replaced my 6 year old Compaq 17" CRT with two new side-
by-side Samsung 930B 19" LCD flat panels. Obviously WYSIWYG with the 
ABW driver has been difficult, BUT thanks to Clayton and his wonderful 
articles on playing with custom dot gains, I have been able to get my 
monitors and my prints matched. I and thrilled and thankful. Couldn't 
have done it without Clayton's writings.

By the way, just like in my darkroom, I found it very necessary to do 
my own testing and not rely on other people's settings. For instance, 
my new LCDs are sooooo bright and sooooo contrasty, that I had to 
calibrate with my Monaco XR with brightness and contrast settings of 
27%/65%. Even then, I had to apply a custom 29% dot gain to get the 
image on my monitor to match a ABW print with the "dark" setting. So 
each person's set up is going to be very different I believe.

Ongoing experience.......

Scott,

1) Have you found any source for the EPSG paper in boxes larger than 20 sheets? The 8.5 
x 11 doesn't seem to come in larger quantities as far as I can determine, and I'd rather not 
use rolls. What size are you using for your prints?

2) When you looked at monitors, did you consider CRTs as well as LCDs?  What led you to 
the LCD choice? Just curious, as I will probably be replacing my older CRT in the next year 
or two. 

3) Are you printing color as well as ABW? If so, are you using the standard profile or did 
you create a custom profile with Monaco?  I am using the standard profile for EPSD 
provided by Epson, and find that it's quite good, especially the PhotoRPM profile. 

I agree re: doing your own testing. For my prints so far I prefer the Normal setting over the 
Dark or Darker settings, as providing a better looking ramp, but I have not measured 
scientifically....

Linda

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Scott Jones" <peanutdogs@h...> 
wrote:

>
> I am now printing seriously with the R2400, K3 inks and EPSG paper. I 
> have also just replaced my 6 year old Compaq 17" CRT with two new side-
> by-side Samsung 930B 19" LCD flat panels. >

Linda,

To answer your questions:

1) I have not found quantities of EPSG paper larger than the 20 
sheet envelope/box. I get mine at Atlex for a much cheaper price 
than at the local stores even factoring in postage. I am using both 
the 8.5x11" and 13x19" sizes.

2) I chose to look for an LCD instead of a CRT because I was sick of 
this giant THING taking up my whole desk. I had been told that the 
old bias toward a CRT for accurate color and tone representation is 
probably not true anymore. And now that I have experienced two flat 
panels side-by-side, boy am I happy. They seemed to calibrate well 
with the Monaco colorimeter. I have only done B&W with the monitors 
so far, but will be printing color tonight, so we shall see, but I 
can't see how there will be any problems. I do notice however that 
there is significant change in color and tone if you move your head 
from side to side and/or up and down. The screen image is easily 
viewable in the 160 degrees field of view quoted for these monitors 
but there is a small sweet spot where the colors and tones are 
maximized. So I have set my desk up so that my head is in the same 
spot when ever working on photography.

3) I am prinitng color and B&W. For the color I am using the premium 
Epson profiles downloaded from their site and they seem to be 
working wonderfully and therefore have not done custom profiling. 
But I am using Epson papers and the K3 inks.

As for personal testing, the more I have fussed in the darkroom and 
now in the digital domain, I really believe the proof is in the 
pudding. So I test until I can't see any differences in my prints 
and then get back to picture making. My goal is to get my system 
down so that the technical aspects begin to fade to the background.

Thanks for asking...

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Scott Jones" 
<peanutdogs@h...> wrote:
> I really believe the proof is in the pudding.


Mmmmm pudding.

I do have to agree that LCDs have come a very long way. And after 
factoring in the size and energy benefits, it's hard not to like them.

>I do have to agree that LCDs have come a very long way. And after 
>factoring in the size and energy benefits, it's hard not to like 
>them.

And you don't break your back lifting them!


Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm

And more cost effective  ;-)  Oh no not again!

> From: Clayton Jones <cj@...>
> Reply-To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 01:24:15 -0000
> To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [Digital BW] Re: R2400 WYSIWYG thanks to Clayton
> 
> 
>> I do have to agree that LCDs have come a very long way. And after
>> factoring in the size and energy benefits, it's hard not to like
>> them.
> 
> And you don't break your back lifting them!
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Clayton
> 
>

Apologies if this is a bit off topic. I've been trying to link the 810 to my
PC but can't seem to get the two to communicate. I'm using a standard serial
25-pin to 9-pin modem cable but suspect that possibly the pin configuration
is different. In the manual it says that a 'DP25S' type cable is required
but noone here in the UK seems to know what that is. 

Does anyone have any information on this?

Thanks
Howard

I hate to jump on the, "oh here's the newest, gotta have it!", but perhaps 
follow this for a year or so before buying a 23" lcd, 
http://www.physorg.com/news4031.html . If it will truly offer a wide viewing 
angle, then Lcd's are a thing of the past . . . sorry guys.

Paul Aparycki

>And more cost effective  ;-)  Oh no not again!


>> I do have to agree that LCDs have come a very long way. And after
>> factoring in the size and energy benefits, it's hard not to like
>> them.
>
>> And you don't break your back lifting them!
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>> Clayton

Try http://www.cablestogo.com or http://www.pimfg.com

They might be able to help.

On Oct 10, 2005, at 6:33 AM, Howard Shaw wrote:

> Apologies if this is a bit off topic. I've been trying to link the  
> 810 to my
> PC but can't seem to get the two to communicate. I'm using a  
> standard serial
> 25-pin to 9-pin modem cable but suspect that possibly the pin  
> configuration
> is different. In the manual it says that a 'DP25S' type cable is  
> required
> but noone here in the UK seems to know what that is.
>
> Does anyone have any information on this?
>
> Thanks
> Howard
>
>
>
> P

>  I'm using a standard serial
> 25-pin to 9-pin modem cable but suspect that possibly the pin configuration
> is different. In the manual it says that a 'DP25S' type cable is required
> but noone here in the UK seems to know what that is. 
> Howard

Go to the X-Rite website they sell the cables but also if download one of the manuals at x-
rite it will show the configuration of the pins on the DP25s...so maybe you can rewire your 
cable. I think it shows the config in the DTP-32 manual.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "John Vitollo" 
<jvlist@c...> wrote:
>
> >  I'm using a standard serial
> > 25-pin to 9-pin modem cable but suspect that possibly the pin 
configuration
> > is different. In the manual it says that a 'DP25S' type cable is 
required
> > but noone here in the UK seems to know what that is. 
> > Howard
> 
> Go to the X-Rite website they sell the cables but also if download 
one of the manuals at x-
> rite it will show the configuration of the pins on the DP25s...so 
maybe you can rewire your 
> cable. I think it shows the config in the DTP-32 manual.
>

What type of connector does it have on each end of the cable? Chances 
are that it has an 8 or 10 pin RJ45 type on one end, with something 
else on the other (DIN8 that plugs directly into old Mac modem ports).

>
 > What type of connector does it have on each end of the cable? Chances
 > are that it has an 8 or 10 pin RJ45 type on one end, with something
 > else on the other (DIN8 that plugs directly into old Mac modem ports).
 >

It has a 25-pin female socket & my pc has a 9-pin male so my old 
standard modem cable fits the bill...it just doesn't work. Someone has 
suggested a 'null modem' cable which reverses the transmit/receive pins 
so I'm waiting for that to arrive. X-rite have a page on cables but it's 
rather confusing. I think I require the 881-91 type cable which it 
describes as "DB9s Null-Modem Adapter; CTS/RTS handshake".

http://www.xrite.com/support_doc.aspx?line=25&SupportID=87

Thanks for your suggestions
Howard