QTR-Quadtone RIP

Roy, I'm looking at a 10" print of two dumpsters full of bottles and
cans, with stickers and grafitti on the outside, trash on the ground etc. 

With QTR at 1440 and at 2880 the QTR trash is significantly less
legible than the black only at 1440 (someone suggested I try 2880, so
I did, but from experience I know nothing good happens above 1440).

With black-only at 1440 the trash is more legible, edges are sharper. 

This is a demanding image because there's so much that SHOULD look
sharp and legible, and much is right at the edge of what 35mm can do
(this is Tmax 100 in Rodinal 1:50...some kind of ultimate).

QTR rivals black-only when I apply a little "smart sharpen" to its 
shadows. I hate doing that much sharpening and I've always found
"smart sharpen" inferior to USM in color...it attempts too much. 

I do always sharpen scans, typically with minimal USM (eg 2/3/50)

In this case, with QTR when I apply more than usual USM (to avoid
smart sharpen) I get more sharpening artifacts. When I apply "more
sharpen" (edge) I can get an impression of more sharpness but the
slightest amount produces artifacts in fine near-white lines, which
develop jaggies. Smart sharpen helps. 

With most images this difference would be less evident...I've not
noticed it with my own...but this demanding image raises a question. 

Sharpening is properly the last step anyway, so if I want something
distinctively toned it looks like I'll need to sharpen differently
than if I want maximum sharpness. My master file will need to be
unsharpened and I'll may want a QTR and a black-only file for each. 



--- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, "Roy Harrington" <roy@h...> wrote:
>
> --- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, "djon43" <djon43@y...> 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.  
> 
> I don't know exactly what you are seeing, but I wonder if it is just
a matter of having
> gray inks as well as the black ink.  In BO the dark black dots
against the white paper
> may give the appearance of "sharpness" where QTR would appear
smoother because
> of the more gradual transitions.  Sharpening before printing with
QTR may have some
> of the same effect.   Back in the film/darkroom days grainy films
often looked sharper
> that a fine grained film for the same reason.

Yes, I used to prefer 8X10 sheet film and 35mm 2475 recording film for
that reason, didn't like much in between :-) 

"Sharpness" has always been a visual judgement call, different from
resolution. In this case, it appears that QTR needs more work than
does black only to get comparable sharpness.