Digital BW, The Print

>So to linearize the output one must either (1) play with the ABW
>settings, (2) create a PS adjustment curve, or (3) create a custom
>profile based on the output obtained using the ABW.

This all gets complicated in a hurry...

I am printing using ABW using ICC profiles I created for the papers I use
(albeit color profiles) using PrintFix Pro.

Maybe something isn't supposed to work here but I am getting beautiful
prints usually on the first try. So whatever isn't working is actually
working fine for me.

Prints are basically perfect matches to what I see on the monitor.

So where's the problem in this method?

Dave.
-- 
My Photography: http://www.david-keenan.com
My Blog: http://www.david-keenan.com/euroblog


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

David Keenan wrote:
>  >So to linearize the output one must either (1) play with the ABW
>> settings, (2) create a PS adjustment curve, or (3) create a custom
>> profile based on the output obtained using the ABW.
> 
> This all gets complicated in a hurry...
> 
> I am printing using ABW using ICC profiles I created for the papers I use
> (albeit color profiles) using PrintFix Pro.
> 
> Maybe something isn't supposed to work here but I am getting beautiful
> prints usually on the first try. So whatever isn't working is actually
> working fine for me.
> 
> Prints are basically perfect matches to what I see on the monitor.
> 
> So where's the problem in this method?
> 
> Dave.

I think it works like this:

If the profiles were made on targets printed in RGB mode there 
could be a difference between the use of more color inks in 
the RGB mode than are used in the ABW mode. As far as I know 
the highlight 20% is still cmY composite grey in RGB mode on 
the K3 printers and there's more color on the black generation 
skeleton than ABW mode gives.

When converting to the color profile all greyscale files will 
become RGB files again and will get shifts that are a result 
of using the color targets for making the profiles. The ABW 
driver accepts both RGB files and greyscale files and I expect 
that it will translate the RGB files to greyscale again. Color 
shifts at that moment may translate in tone shifts.

In general I expect that there will not be much difference in 
the final result and it may be a beter approach for an 
inconsistent printer (color wise) than using the RGB driver 
for greyscale printing.


Met vriendelijke groeten,Ernst


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Dave,

I imagine that your profile is based on a test print. If, 

(1) to produce the test print, you selected the same type of paper
that you are using now to print, and 

(2) you left the color controls "on" so that the driver color control
(with all slides set at 0) was affecting the test print, and 

(3) the default driver color control (with all slides set at 0)
linearization algorithm is similar to the one used in ABW (this is
just my guess; i don't know if this is true)

then I think that your custom color profile may be taking into account
the linearization performed by the epson driver when it prints in ABW
mode.   

In any case, if your workflow serves you well, I see no problem. 

Regards,

Manuel 

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "David Keenan"
<ausdlk@...> wrote:
>
>  >So to linearize the output one must either (1) play with the ABW
> >settings, (2) create a PS adjustment curve, or (3) create a custom
> >profile based on the output obtained using the ABW.
> 
> This all gets complicated in a hurry...
> 
> I am printing using ABW using ICC profiles I created for the papers
I use

> (albeit color profiles) using PrintFix Pro.
> 
> Maybe something isn't supposed to work here but I am getting beautiful
> prints usually on the first try. So whatever isn't working is actually
> working fine for me.
> 
> Prints are basically perfect matches to what I see on the monitor.
> 
> So where's the problem in this method?
> 
> Dave.
> -- 
> My Photography: http://www.david-keenan.com
> My Blog: http://www.david-keenan.com/euroblog
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>