QTR-Quadtone RIP

I've scanned in the print tests that I described below. I loaded crops
from the 3200 dpi scans into a album in the Photos section on the QTR
list's Yahoo Groups website.  Hopefully you will be able to tell if I
did something incorrectly.  Here is a link: 
http://tech.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/QuadtoneRIP/photos/browse/d000

The scans show more than I could see with a good 10x loupe.  

The QTR-Neutral K7 print is smoother and lighter but also softer.  The
print using the Epson driver on the 4800 with the K3 inks produced a
deeper, more angular (searching for a word to describe it), but it
seems with more errors.  The Epson K3 print also does indeed use color
inks in the print.  Yellow, cyan(Lt?) and magenta(Lt?) do appear to be
used -- contrary to what I could see with the 10x loupe.  I'll leave
which is "better" to group discussion.

I guess the most surprising thing about this that I can not duplicate
the images used in the promotional 1-point text comparison. The
promotional comparison was done on an R2400 while this was done on a
4800 -- but the 2 printers are capable of the same resolution and use
the same inkset.  The 2 print samples don't appear to be all that
different in resolution, so even if I used a smaller type point, I
don't think a difference similar to the comparison would appear.

Any thoughts, comments, etc.?


--- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, "momoinu_dc" <LotusM50@...> wrote:
>
> Paul and Roy,
> 
> Thanks for this.
> 
> I created a 1 pt type file (whether it is accurate, I'm not sure).
> Had trouble getting it right in CS3, so I did it in a drawing program
> and converted it to a TIFF (but at only 360 dpi) in CS3.
> 
> I printed it on a 4000 with QTR and K7 inks, and on a 4800 with Epson
> K3 inks with photo black (using color setting not ABW) -- both at 2880
> dpi. Looking at the print with a 10x loupe, both were totally legible.
> This was done on a EEMatte type paper. The K7 printed type might have
> been a bit smoother, but it also seemed a bit lighter. Interestingly,
> on the K3 printed type no color inks seemed to be used (unlike in the
> promotional example). I then tried printing it as gray, rather than
> black text with the 4800/K3, as that might make more use of the color
> inks. It still looked monochromatic -- at least under the loupe.
> Needless to say, it doesn't look like the Epson print sample in the
> promotional example. I'll try printing it in ABW on glossy paper (ABW
> does not appear to be available for use on matte papers, at least when
> photo black is loaded) tomorrow.
> 
> I'll also scan the print samples in tomorrow -- it's a 3200 dpi Epson
> scanner, so it should produce a comparable scan to your own for
> comparison.
> 
> 
> --- In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, "Roy Harrington" <roy@> wrote:
> >
> > This is an interesting experiment.  I regularly use a 3800 with K3
> inks and QTR...