Digital BW, The Print

The 200 is now working...after calling Media Street, after communicating
that I had already sent in the web based form, after being told they didn't
have it, then, I gave them the reference number and they found my question
from yesterday. Then came some prodigious polishing of the contacts on the
cartridge "chip" and it worked. Interestingly, while I was away buying a new
car battery my wife printed an image with the regular Photoshop "print"
process and produced an image that was perfectly flat. She wasn't aware of
the RIP. So, we then printed the same image with the Quad RIP suggested by
Media Street. The difference, clarity, shades of gray and all the rest made
the change to this experimental B&W system readily apparent. This is what I
had hoped for. Now to explore some of the curves and other settings. Maybe
some of you might have some default preset suggestions for the different
settings. Too, might there be a second level RIP that has a bit more in the
way of options for sizing, adjusting etc.. Being very used to the many
Photoshop and Canon Printer options has really spoiled me, especially in
terms of previews and adjustments for non-standard sizes. Still working on
the workflow of integrating the RIP to best see exactly what I am going to
have as the final image in terms of both looks and sizing and that thumbnail
isn't helping my 56 year old eyes. All of which being said, the final image
was startling.

In terms of moving forward,

I think that the previous note with the following addresses what I was
trying to reference for my longer term endeavor:

"In wet darkroom usage, "tone" refers specifically to the color or
treatment of a B&W print, as in sepia, gold, brown, selenium, cold,
"duo-tone" etc. It doesn't refer to density or contrast or darkness etc.

NON-"tone" factors include Dmax and  the question of clear definition
of each zone from adjoining zones (ie zone system), Vs unclear
definition of zones, zones that are missed entirely or over-emphasized.

"Tone" is carelessly used in inkjet printing because many  have had no
serious contact with wet darkrooms, don't have language for or are
completely unaware of those factors, are unaware of B&W zones etc."

I now have the generations quad tone inks from Media Street and received the
following very kind observation from MIS,

"If you are looking forward to possible wide format in the near future the
best inkset to go with is the UT7 inks and the 2200 printer. This will be a
direct equivalent to what the 4000,7600 and 9600 will use for B&W printing."

However, if quad tones and others are merely cool or warm, light or dark,
they would not going to be able to produce they subtle shades referenced
such as sepia, gold, brown, silver, platinum, selenium, duo-tone, quad-tone,
that can enrich images and add the depth to "black and white" that is far
more than a tinted overlay are they? Maybe there simply isn't such a system
or approach that provides the full range of blacks, whites, grays as well as
the "metallic" or other tones. Even a best system for most applications
would be helpful. In moving up to the wide format, I simply want to assure
that I select the best platform in terms of an inking and printing system
that at least addresses "most" situations.





Clarence W. Walker,   
Creative Expression Photography
http://www.creativeexpressiononline.com
Commercial, fine-art, and stock

If you're wanting more capability in your 'rip', you might want to take a good look at Qimage.  It can't be beat for bang-for-the-buck.  $50 US.
   
  Tom Baker

Clarence Walker <creative-expression@...> wrote:


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