Digital BW, The Print

All of this recent talk of alignments brings up an issue. Surely,
there is a better way to assess alignment than the Epson utility on
desktops like the 2200. I have given myself headaches examining the
alignment patterns under a lupe and I'll be dam%ed if I can find any
difference in any of the patterns, let alone which numer is best. Does
anyone else out there have the same experience? Is this just the way
it is?

Rick

Sound like you have a very well aligned printer.  All printers don't have such uniform test patterns.
   
  *** Baker
  

Rick Colson <colson@ideate.com> wrote:
          All of this recent talk of alignments brings up an issue. Surely,
there is a better way to assess alignment than the Epson utility on
desktops like the 2200. I have given myself headaches examining the
alignment patterns under a lupe and I'll be dam%ed if I can find any
difference in any of the patterns, let alone which numer is best. Does
anyone else out there have the same experience? Is this just the way
it is?

Rick



         


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

Tom Baker wrote:
> Sound like you have a very well aligned printer.  All printers don't have such uniform test patterns.
>    
>   *** Baker
>   

Only one of the test patterns should be aligned. If this isn't the case, 
something is wrong somewhere. Paper too soft/absorbent? And, of course, 
our eyes can be a factor.

-Patrick Carr

-- 
Carr Imaging
patcarr@...

First, make sure the nozzle check is perfect.
It should be easy to see differences.   Hopefully you are following the
manual, which has pictures of what you should see and look for.


John

-----Original Message-----
From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of Rick
Colson
Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 1:04 PM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] Alignment

All of this recent talk of alignments brings up an issue. Surely,
there is a better way to assess alignment than the Epson utility on
desktops like the 2200. I have given myself headaches examining the
alignment patterns under a lupe and I'll be dam%ed if I can find any
difference in any of the patterns, let alone which numer is best. Does
anyone else out there have the same experience? Is this just the way
it is?

Rick


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

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Colson"
<colson@...> wrote:
>
> All of this recent talk of alignments brings up an issue. Surely,
> there is a better way to assess alignment than the Epson utility on
> desktops like the 2200. I have given myself headaches examining the
> alignment patterns under a lupe and I'll be dam%ed if I can find any
> difference in any of the patterns, let alone which numer is best. Does
> anyone else out there have the same experience? Is this just the way
> it is?

Don't look at me, I can see them without a loupe, although I usually
use one to "fine tune" my decision.

Patrick is right, there's no such thing as having all the patterns
look good because the machine is already well "aligned". But if
something is causing the detail of the patterns to be obscured, they
can all look equally bad. I've found that this happens when I set a
2200 or 2400 to the wrong paper height, or specify an incorrect
"platen gap" on the 4000 or 7600. Too far away, and you get a lot of blur.

Rick,

>
> All of this recent talk of alignments brings up an issue. Surely,
> there is a better way to assess alignment than the Epson utility on
> desktops like the 2200. I have given myself headaches examining the
> alignment patterns under a lupe and I'll be dam%ed if I can find any
> difference in any of the patterns, let alone which numer is best. Does
> anyone else out there have the same experience? Is this just the way
> it is?

The best method I have found to assess alignment is to print the 
alignment test on Pictorico OHP transparency material. You can easily 
tell the proper alignment pattern using this substrate because the dot 
gain is almost zero.

I discovered this checking for alignment when making digital negatives. 
I was amazed at the improvement after using the Pictorico.

Don Bryant

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "donbga" 
> 
> The best method I have found to assess alignment is to print the 
> alignment test on Pictorico OHP transparency material. You can easily 
> tell the proper alignment pattern using this substrate because the dot 
> gain is almost zero.
> 
> I discovered this checking for alignment when making digital negatives. 
> I was amazed at the improvement after using the Pictorico.

Well, you're close. "The best method" is to align on something smooth,
with low dot gain, that matches your target medium in thickness. That
last part is very important, because alignment varies with printer
thickness.

Has to do with the time it takes ink to get from head to paper, vs the
distance the head travels horizontally in that time.