Digital BW, The Print

On 14/07/09 8:40 PM, "john dean" <deanwork2003@...> wrote:

>  "The monochromatic ink sets use one or more black inks and various weights of
> gray. The cartridges or tanks in the printer are replaced with these new ones,
> and specialized software is installed in the computer to build print tones
> that match the monitor display. One of the pioneers in the development of
> these black and white ink sets - Jon Cone - even developed new software that
> lets the inkjet put down a diffuse dot, producing a print that looks truly
> tonal,even under the magnifying glass. A fine print made with these inks and
> that dot structure is as rich in grays as anything silver produced in the long
> history of chemical photography".

I've been running a dual - 4 ink (common black) version of Jon's K7 inks for
a few years and rolling my own QTR profiles. I recently switched back to the
full set of 7 (Special Edition) and had Jon's team build the profiles.

To say I'm very pleased is an understatement. My prints have a new
smoothness and fidelity. Some of this is due to using 7 inks again. However,
Jon's profiles are truly outstanding.

To compare apples to apples, I built a set of QTR profiles, the best I've
done to-date, for the new inks. John's profiles take things to a new level.
Very smooth and linear.

I'm glad to see the recognition. Congratulations Jon.

Terry.

Yes, that kind of commitment is a labor of love to say the least. Glad he got at least a paragraph from a major museum out of it.

j




--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Terry Ritz <t.ritz@...> wrote:

>
> On 14/07/09 8:40 PM, "john dean" <deanwork2003@...> wrote:
> 
> >  "The monochromatic ink sets use one or more black inks and various weights of
> > gray. The cartridges or tanks in the printer are replaced with these new ones,
> > and specialized software is installed in the computer to build print tones
> > that match the monitor display. One of the pioneers in the development of
> > these black and white ink sets - Jon Cone - even developed new software that
> > lets the inkjet put down a diffuse dot, producing a print that looks truly
> > tonal,even under the magnifying glass. A fine print made with these inks and
> > that dot structure is as rich in grays as anything silver produced in the long
> > history of chemical photography".
> 
> I've been running a dual - 4 ink (common black) version of Jon's K7 inks for
> a few years and rolling my own QTR profiles. I recently switched back to the
> full set of 7 (Special Edition) and had Jon's team build the profiles.
> 
> To say I'm very pleased is an understatement. My prints have a new
> smoothness and fidelity. Some of this is due to using 7 inks again. However,
> Jon's profiles are truly outstanding.
> 
> To compare apples to apples, I built a set of QTR profiles, the best I've
> done to-date, for the new inks. John's profiles take things to a new level.
> Very smooth and linear.
> 
> I'm glad to see the recognition. Congratulations Jon.
> 
> Terry.
>

I'm sorry, by accident, I deleted the original post I made about the MOMA book, late last night when half asleep. It really is a cool book worth reading and they did a great job with it and the exhibition. Usually these kinds of books are not so well researched, this one is different.
---------------------
Original Post:

A client of mine brought me this really nice thick hard bound book from the Museum Of Modern Art last week. They are selling it as a companion to an exhibition of the history of printmaking . It is called - "The Printed Picture by Richard Benson". The reproductions and glossary are great including fine offset repros of tri-tone offset, gravure, collotype, platinum, etc, along with their historical context. There is a whole big section called photography in ink that I think is uniquely done.

The last section is called digital. I was pleasantly surprised that it was NOT dominated by corporate ads. In that section I was happy to see the following short but significant paragraph at the end of this book: 

"The monochromatic ink sets use one or more black inks and various weights of gray. The cartridges or tanks in the printer are replaced with these new ones, and specialized software is installed in the computer to build print tones that match the monitor display. One of the pioneers in the development of these black and white ink sets - Jon Cone - even developed new software that lets the inkjet put down a diffuse dot, producing a print that looks truly tonal, even under the magnifying glass. A fine print made with these inks and that dot structure is as rich in grays as anything silver produced in the long history of chemical photography".