Digital BW, The Print

Hi Guys/Gals,
Although I'm an old guy I have been  doing digital for about 10 Yrs.
I have not had good experience with B&W so, after reading about Paul's
B&W printing, I've converted my old 1280 with MIS EB6 inks.  Got set up
yesterday and have run a couple of test prints and am pleased with what
I see even though some adjustments need to be made. I've read most of 
Paul's stuff but must admit that curves and other stuff is over my 
head.  What I need to know at the moment is;
Are there profiles or something similar that will allow a more 
consistant output without lots of test prints and trial and error to
adjust brightness and contrast assuming use of the same paper?
Does QTR provide help in that area?  Any advice will be greatly 
appreciated.  Thanks
Tom

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "garrett.tom30" 
<garrett.tom30@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Guys/Gals,
> Although I'm an old guy I have been  doing digital for about 10 Yrs.
> I have not had good experience with B&W so, after reading about 
Paul's
> B&W printing, I've converted my old 1280 with MIS EB6 inks.  Got 
set up
> yesterday and have run a couple of test prints and am pleased with 
what
> I see even though some adjustments need to be made. I've read most 
of 
> Paul's stuff but must admit that curves and other stuff is over my 
> head.  What I need to know at the moment is;
> Are there profiles or something similar that will allow a more 
> consistant output without lots of test prints and trial and error to
> adjust brightness and contrast assuming use of the same paper?
> Does QTR provide help in that area?  Any advice will be greatly 
> appreciated.  Thanks
> Tom

It appears that this question is being disregarded anyway but I just
wanted to say that I have done some reading and believe I now better
understand what I need to do so no reply is necessary.
Tom

Tom,  Do not panic.  There are fewer people on the list over the 
weekends.  I'm sure Paul will respond at some point.  But, if you get 
QTR you'll find it very user friendly.  I, too, have a 1280 using the 
UT2 inkset which I will eventually convert to the EB6 inkset down the 
road.  Right now I'm using QTR with the 1280 carbon profile as it 
comes from QTR.  The best thing is that Photoshop is not needed.  The 
image editor you use need only be capable of saving your file or a 
copy of your file as an 8-bit, grayscale, TIF file.  It handles the 
rest itself.  You can download the QTR program for evaluation first 
since it's shareware.  Purchasing it gets you unlimited upgrades and 
support.  

Good Luck...Mike

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "garrett.tom30" 
<garrett.tom30@...> wrote:
>
> --- In 
DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "garrett.tom30" 
> <garrett.tom30@> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Guys/Gals,
> > Although I'm an old guy I have been  doing digital for about 10 
Yrs.
> > I have not had good experience with B&W so, after reading about 
> Paul's
> > B&W printing, I've converted my old 1280 with MIS EB6 inks.  Got 
> set up
> > yesterday and have run a couple of test prints and am pleased 
with 
> what
> > I see even though some adjustments need to be made. I've read 
most 
> of 
> > Paul's stuff but must admit that curves and other stuff is over 
my 
> > head.  What I need to know at the moment is;
> > Are there profiles or something similar that will allow a more 
> > consistant output without lots of test prints and trial and error 
to

> > adjust brightness and contrast assuming use of the same paper?
> > Does QTR provide help in that area?  Any advice will be greatly 
> > appreciated.  Thanks
> > Tom
> 
> It appears that this question is being disregarded anyway but I just
> wanted to say that I have done some reading and believe I now better
> understand what I need to do so no reply is necessary.
> Tom
>

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "mbrouphy" 
<mbrouphy@...> wrote:
>
> Tom,  Do not panic.  There are fewer people on the list over the 
> weekends.  I'm sure Paul will respond at some point.  But, if you 
get 
> QTR you'll find it very user friendly.  I, too, have a 1280 using 
the 
> UT2 inkset which I will eventually convert to the EB6 inkset down 
the 
> road.  Right now I'm using QTR with the 1280 carbon profile as it 
> comes from QTR.  The best thing is that Photoshop is not needed.  
The 
> image editor you use need only be capable of saving your file or a 
> copy of your file as an 8-bit, grayscale, TIF file.  It handles the 
> rest itself.  You can download the QTR program for evaluation first 
> since it's shareware.  Purchasing it gets you unlimited upgrades 
and 
> support.  
> 
> Good Luck...Mike

Mike,
Thanks for the encouraging words.  In an email Paul had suggested
that I start by using the printer driver settings.  That is working 
quite well. However, I believe it can be much better. You have 
confirmed my feeling that I probably need to use QTR for best 
results. With color printing I use profiles which get things very
close and that eliminates a lot of test prints (unnecessary expense)
and it sounds like QTR would do that with B&W.  Appreciate you help.
Tom 
> >
>

>... using the printer driver settings... is working 
> quite well. However, I believe it can be much better.

Take a close look at 
http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Making_B-W_ICCs-1.pdf

I've tried to simplify the procedure for making B&W ICCs.

If the driver can get it reasonably close -- no posterization, for 
example -- the ICC route is probably the easiest way to get to the next 
step.

> With color printing I use profiles which get things very
> close and that eliminates a lot of test prints ...

That is what a "color managed" workflow and these ICCs do.

Paul      
www.PaulRoark.com

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "pr_roark" 
<pr_roark@...> wrote:
>
> >... using the printer driver settings... is working 
> > quite well. However, I believe it can be much better.
> 
> Take a close look at 
> http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Making_B-W_ICCs-1.pdf

Thanks Paul; I checked it out and will give it a try shortly.
Will my old Epson Expression 800 be adequate for the scanning
job?


> I've tried to simplify the procedure for making B&W ICCs.
> 
> If the driver can get it reasonably close -- no posterization, for 
> example -- the ICC route is probably the easiest way to get to the 
next 

> step.
> 
> > With color printing I use profiles which get things very
> > close and that eliminates a lot of test prints ...
> 
> That is what a "color managed" workflow and these ICCs do.
> 
> Paul      
> www.PaulRoark.com
>

> > http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Making_B-W_ICCs-1.pdf

>...
> Will my old Epson Expression 800 be adequate for the scanning
> job?

I expect the Epson 800 will be very adequate for making ICCs.  High 
resolution scans are not needed.  I used 200 dpi, but it's not 
important.  Being able to scan in 12 bit grayscale is probably more 
important.  But even that is probably not critical.

Paul   
www.PaulRoark.com