Digital BW, The Print

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/printers/HP-Z3100-review.shtml

Including a quite amusing (or boring - depends on viewer) video on how
Michael sets up the beast. Z3100 uses 4 black/ grey inks.

Regards, Bernie

The review section on the Z3100's image quality, however accurate, was
not very descriptive:  

"After both testing and printing extensively with Epson's, Canon's and
now HP's latest pigment ink printers it is my belief that there they
all produce excellent image quality."

And 

"But, to the naked eye at normal viewing distances, neither I not any
of the other photographers to whom I showed comparative prints were
reliably able to differentiate one brand printer from the other based
on image "sharpness"."

How does the sharpness of the best small format printers, such as the
Epson R260 compare to the Z3100, Epson 9800 or Canon IPF5000 large
format printers?  It seems the small format printers debut the latest
greatest sharpness and resolution technology that the printer
companies can muster.  Also, I wish a comparison could have been made
with traditional wet darkroom prints, e.g., C-print, Cibachrome,
dye-transfer.

Does he mean this comparison between printers is valid for color as
well as B&W prints?

I'm a bit of an elitist curmudgeon and get closer than normal to view
my images.

The 260 is sharper, but useless as a BW printer with the OEM ink.
Lots of people claim they can’t see any dots in color prints from x800
printers, so for many, no additional printer sharpness is required.

Best regards,
John Moody

-----Original Message-----
From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of elauq
Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2007 5:19 AM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: LL Review on HP Z3100 is online

The review section on the Z3100's image quality, however accurate, was
not very descriptive:

"After both testing and printing extensively with Epson's, Canon's and
now HP's latest pigment ink printers it is my belief that there they
all produce excellent image quality."

And

"But, to the naked eye at normal viewing distances, neither I not any
of the other photographers to whom I showed comparative prints were
reliably able to differentiate one brand printer from the other based
on image "sharpness"."

How does the sharpness of the best small format printers, such as the
Epson R260 compare to the Z3100, Epson 9800 or Canon IPF5000 large
format printers? It seems the small format printers debut the latest
greatest sharpness and resolution technology that the printer
companies can muster. Also, I wish a comparison could have been made
with traditional wet darkroom prints, e.g., C-print, Cibachrome,
dye-transfer.

Does he mean this comparison between printers is valid for color as
well as B&W prints?

I'm a bit of an elitist curmudgeon and get closer than normal to view
my images.



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