Digital BW, The Print

In a message dated 9/14/06 3:48:16 PM, tyler@... writes:


> > Those willing to pay for an R2400 or above (above including the Canon
> > iPF5000), and get both color and b&w from the same printer, with the
> same inks, and
> > the OEM driver; and those who want cheaper b&w from an older model.
> Third party
> > inks, specialty RIPs etc, are only needed for the second category.
> 
> David, I have to say I think you've left out the best monochromatic
> printers in the country, producing gallery and museum quality work...
> Though the some of the tools mentioned in your second catagory apply,
> the printers used are not cheap nor or the inks.
> Perhaps there is another catagory?
> 

One doesn't have to be determined to "do it on the cheap" to get involved in 
the second category. I think I included your systems in my description, I just 
didn't justify them in a way that suits you. Some people got involved in the 
second category because it was the only gallery quality choice at the time. 
Others got involved because they are tinkerers and love stuff where they can get 
under the hood.   Hopefully PrintFIX PRO 2.0 will offer them plenty to tinker 
with, without having to actually get under the hood any more. <G>

Let me use an unnamed friend as an example (a few of you may recognize this 
description): He's a top notch black and white photographer, both in 4x5 film, 
and using the new Canon full frame Digital SLRs. He's done programming and sof
tware development in the past, so knows how to work with this stuff. Three or 
more years ago I assisted him in developing what was then a state of the art 
black and white printing solution that involved the early Epson wideformat 
printers, inks that were mixed by him, especially for his system, and a high end 
RIP of my recommendation to drive it all. This produced large cross-tinted B&W 
prints that were framed and sold in galleries (and one of which graces my 
livingroom to this day). 

The next time he talked to me, it was about moving forwards to the newer 
generation pigment inks, and the low cost B&W RIPs. He decided he could mix his 
own variable inkset and create RIP curves to control it, for more flexible 
results on a wider range of media. This actually was released as a commercial 
inkset for a time. The results were better than the previous system, and the cost 
of admission was lower. But there were controls for the system that had to be 
built by him (not the end user), for each paper, each printer model, and each 
tint. 

Next I assisted him in purchasing an Epson 4800 for both our purposes, and he 
worked on profiling that with a low cost RIP with his methods and the OEM 
inks. This method produces better B&W prints, more control of tints, more 
graceful transistions to paper tone, and overall better prints than either of the 
above. This produced everything I wanted in output quality, and output control. 
But it still required a low cost B&W RIP, a spectro, and a lot of special 
knowledge for controlling it all.

Now I'm comparing what I can do through the RGB driver to these same K3 
printers (plus the iPF5000) with PrintFIX PRO 2.0, to the best of the prints from 
the third system above, and I don't see anything missing except that PFP is 
easier, faster, and more flexible, and doesn't require you to roll your own.

So, Tyler; you own systems that you have invested considerable time and 
expense in getting to do what you want from them. They have several levels of gray. 
You may feel they offer better results than the number of grays available 
from OEM inksets. They may; especially for a master printmaker like you. But I'm 
pretty good at this stuff too, and   I can't (even looking at prints made by 
you, on two of your different systems) see that its a visible difference in 
smoothness, lack of posterization, number of available levels, metamerism or 
other critical factors between such prints as you describe (and make) and prints 
from the latest printers and OEM inks; given a proper control system, which is 
what I've spent the last year attempting to develop. I don't expect you to 
take my word for it; you're on the list to beta test this, and I hope you will 
see my sample prints at Photokina or PhotoPLUS.

I'm certainly not suggesting you toss your current systems. But I'm not sure 
someone just starting out needs to pay what you paid, learn what you know, and 
go through that process, when the end results from the new printers 
(especially with PrintFIX PRO 2.0 for control) offer pretty much equitable results. 
Thats the split that I find most interesting...

C. David Tobie
Product Technology Manager
ColorVision Business Unit
Datacolor Inc.
CDTobie@...
www.colorvision.com


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