QTR-Quadtone RIP

As a fresh recruit from the wet darkroom side of photography, I need 
some help solving the mysteries of BW printing on inkjet.

Here is my setup: Epson 2200, MIS PRO inks, EEM (Presentation Matte 
Premium)

I've had decent sucess with Black Only printing following Clayton Jones 
tips, but I'm not wowed by any of my images yet.  

While I'm not giving up on Black Only, I wanted to see what kind of 
results I would get using the full MIS PRO inkset (with Eboni matte 
black) to print BW.  My readings have led me to believe that straight 
BW prints through the Epson driver would be plagued by color casts from 
the various pigments, and that QUADtone RIP could serve as a way to 
ensure relatively neutral prints.

However, I have not been able to find any profiles for MIS PRO inks, 
and I'm wondering if it is safe to proceed using the UC profiles that 
came with QUADtone, since the MIS PRO inkeset is supposed to be very 
close to Epson's Ultrachrome.


I know, I know, I should not be cheap and I should just experiment to 
see what happens, but could anyone validate or correct my theory?

Kind regards,

Federico

I have the same setup and use th QTR gray matte paper profile with no problems.

Walt

>However, I have not been able to find any profiles for MIS PRO inks, 
>and I'm wondering if it is safe to proceed using the UC profiles that 
>came with QUADtone, since the MIS PRO inkeset is supposed to be very 
>close to Epson's Ultrachrome.

Federico

Yes, you should try the UC curves with the MISPro inkset.

Tom Moore

> -----Original Message-----
> From: QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com [mailto:QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com] On
> Behalf Of karlla_fed

...

> However, I have not been able to find any profiles for MIS PRO inks,
> and I'm wondering if it is safe to proceed using the UC profiles that
> came with QUADtone, since the MIS PRO inkeset is supposed to be very
> close to Epson's Ultrachrome.

...

karlla_fed wrote:
> 
> However, I have not been able to find any profiles for MIS PRO inks, 
> and I'm wondering if it is safe to proceed using the UC profiles that 
> came with QUADtone, since the MIS PRO inkeset is supposed to be very 
> close to Epson's Ultrachrome.
> 
> 
Yes I would certainly try the profiles for the 2200 that have 
UC-EEnhMatte- at the beginning of their name. Use a resolution of 
1440dpi and to start with, try a 50/50 split of the warm & cool profiles.

Howard

Thanks for the suggestions.

Last night I tried the UC profiles for EEM, settling on the one for a 
warm tone.

I printed several 5x7 prints changing the ink limit from 0 to -50 
gradually.

The best results were at about -30 or so.  When at 0 the blacks were 
so heavy that seemed to cause somethin akin to bronzing (is that 
possible on matte papers?)

Still, the image looked nothing as luminous as the BO print I had 
tried earlier of that same image or as the PSe6 print made using the 
EMM ICC.
Granted, the QTR print had none of the grain of the BO print, and 
none of the color tint of the Phtotshop + ICC file.

Tonight I'll try playing with the gamma slider and see if I can bring 
more "life" into the skin tone, which right now look too dark, even 
in the -30 print.

Howard, you suggest printint at 1440.  All of my prints last night 
were at 2880.  What's the advantage of 1440?

Thanks for the guidance,

Federico

karlla_fed wrote:
..
> The best results were at about -30 or so.  When at 0 the blacks were 
> so heavy that seemed to cause somethin akin to bronzing (is that 
> possible on matte papers?)
> 
> Still, the image looked nothing as luminous as the BO print I had 
> tried earlier of that same image or as the PSe6 print made using the 
> EMM ICC.
> Granted, the QTR print had none of the grain of the BO print, and 
> none of the color tint of the Phtotshop + ICC file.
> 
> Tonight I'll try playing with the gamma slider and see if I can bring 
> more "life" into the skin tone, which right now look too dark, even 
> in the -30 print.
> 
> Howard, you suggest printint at 1440.  All of my prints last night 
> were at 2880.  What's the advantage of 1440?
> 

These profiles were designed for a resolution of 1440dpi (or 1440 
super). A lot more ink is used at 2880dpi and that is the cause of the 
over-inking you are seeing.

regards
Howard

> These profiles were designed for a resolution of 1440dpi (or 1440 
> super). A lot more ink is used at 2880dpi and that is the cause of 
the 
> over-inking you are seeing.
> 
> regards
> Howard
>


I sure feel silly now for wasting all that time adjusting the ink 
limit slider! :o

I feel I missed a crucial piece of information, but were should I 
have learned that the profiles provided with QTR are for 1440 
resolution.  Is it in the manual?

Thanks,

Federico

karlla_fed wrote:
...
> 
> I sure feel silly now for wasting all that time adjusting the ink 
> limit slider! :o
> 
> I feel I missed a crucial piece of information, but were should I 
> have learned that the profiles provided with QTR are for 1440 
> resolution.  Is it in the manual?

Yes, on page 8 of Tom Moore's User Guide.

The convention (which may not always have been observed) is that curves 
are designed to be used at 1440dpi unless the name of the curve includes 
'2880'.

I believe that an ink limit adjustment of about -45 has enabled curves 
designed for 1440 to be used at 2880 although I wouldn't recommend that 
approach - better to create your own curves at the desired resolution.

regards
Howard