Walker wrote:
>... pss: A good proof-of-viability test for anyone buying a neg system requiring an investment in third party ink and cartridges is to see if it works with silver. If it works with silver, it will work for everything else without limitation or worry.
Just after the "turn of the century" I went through an internegative phase for my silver printing. I've had a darkroom all my life and was a silver printer before I transitioned to inkjets. I tried all sorts of internegatives -- inkjet, imagesetter, high end film recorder. The winner was an 8x10 Fujix Pictrography negative that I enlarged to 16x20. Samy's had one of the machines, and the cost was all of about $8/neg. It's easy to convert a 4x5 Beseler to 8x10. (Hint: use the Apo-Rodagon copy lens instead of their 8x10 enlarger lens.) The Pictrography machine makes 400 true ppi films. These are not dithered half-tones. They enlarge to 16x20 very well. But, I really doubt they are suitable for the alt process niche.
Silver was easy, with materials that were very stable and uniform. What I'm seeing in alt process is a huge number of variables that makes it rather important that the practitioner have the skills to re-profile and linearize for a new batch or mix of chemistry. Keeping it as simple as possible should facilitate this. Just getting my friends to the point where they are using QTR's linearization tools as opposed to trying to craft their own PS curves should be a major step in that direction for them. That's my only goal here.
Paul