GG 2.2 with the 2400 - Test Results
2005-11-21 by Clayton Jones
Hello All, Yesterday's discussion about GG 2.2 triggered an idea about using that workspace with the 2400, and today's tests have confirmed it. The 2400 (and 4800 I assume) does offer a finer gradation of driver gamma choices which makes GG2.2 more useful for the non-color managed workflow. Using a GG2.2 image work space with the ABW "Dark" setting produces a print that is very close to DG20+Light. It has slightly more open shadows, but also slightly more contrast, resulting in brighter highlights (which might endanger highlight detail in some images). There also seems to be an odd loss of midtone contrast - I'll need to do further testing to be sure of it. Nevertheless, by doing this the 2400 allows a greater range of choices. GG2.2+Dark can be used with the 2400 without the usual low zone compression (GG2.2+Darker does seem to be very much like 2.2 on the older printers - much too compressed). So for purely compression concerns and where highlight detail is not an issue, GG2.2+Dark may be a better choice. It also allows going down to "Normal" if a really difficult image requires it, so it offers more flexibility. The only drawback is possible loss of highlight detail, but I'm not sure how much of an issue it is. All my current work is now being done with digicams, and preserving highlight detail can be a delicate matter. My experience has been that it's easier to increase contrast and/or compress shadows if needed, than the reverse. Then there's what appears to be a loss of some midtone contrast that I see in this one image. So I'm not completely convinced it's a good trade off. I need to do more experiments with it and see how it works. Regards, Clayton Info on black and white digital printing at http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm