QTR-Quadtone RIP

Rainer,  I've just made test prints using Epson's "sharpen" filter,
got no improvement, and "more sharpen" , got sharpness rivaling
Black-Only except for intolerable jaggies in 2mm-wide edge highlights
(lines that should be almost white). Extra USM accomplished nothing. 

Careful use of "smart sharpen" on shadows produced sharpness that
almost rivals Black-Only...more "smart sharpen" of shadows starts to
produce halos. I've never found "smart sharpen" useful before, but it
looks like a good idea here...I'll explore it further.

I don't like sharpening in post-processing and again for a particular
printer driver (QTR). Maybe I'll start doing zero sharpening on the
original file until I know how I want to print...different sharpening
for Black-Only and QTR...

A mystery. 


--- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, Rainer Taube <rainer@t...> wrote:
>
> djon43 wrote:
> 
> > I raised this question on the B&W inkjet Group, should do it here as
> > well ...
> >
> > A particular file/image is distinctly sharper with black-only (Epson
> > 2200 driver) than literal same file/image with QTR (2.3.10), printed
> > to the same size. 
> >
> > Someone on the B&W inkjet group suggested that QTR may *lack* a
> > sharpening application that may be hidden in the Epson driver.
> >
> > I've never heard of a hidden sharpener in Epson, but they do exist in
> > digicams. He suggested I add extra sharpening to a file intended for
> > QTR, Vs the file that's already good for black-only.
> >
> > That helps, though my first efforts make the sharpening obvious in
> > close inspection.
> >
> > ** Has anybody else noticed a sharpness issue with QTR Vs Epson? or
> > other drivers?
> >
> > ** Do you use any special sharpening workflow/technique/tool for files
> > destined for QTR, as opposed to files destined for other drivers (such
> > as Epsons for color or black-only)?
> >
> >
> Hallo,
> 
> i can confirm your observation. I had the same impression comparing QTR 
> and BlackOnly, but i think you cannot directly compare QTR and
BlackOnly 
> - it is comparing apples and pears as we say in germany. QTR is much 
> smoother than BlackOnly which has a kind of more local contrast (as 
> anyone said some weeks ago), therefore it looks sharper. Thus i´m not 
> sure, whether QTR is really not as sharp as BlackOnly. I sometimes try 
> to solve this issue with Qimage, but i never made systematical tests to 
> find out if it is only a impression or really a difference between the 
> different methods to print Black & White Images.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Rainer
>