Digital BW, The Print

Hi,

I received some samples of 2200 IP5 output today (thanks Tom Fors) and was
curious how they compared to the quads many of us use.

In general, I think the 2200 output looks very good.  However, the dots in
the highlights are apparent on some of the prints.  A 1600 dpi scan of the
print makes it clear that much of this print is still a color print.  I was
surprised at how much color is still used even at 50%.  Then again, the
UltraChrome light gray ink is quite warm.  So, even if for no other reason,
a fair amount of magenta and cyan has to be added to get the print neutral.

At any rate, looking at the highlight dots, I scanned a number of test
strips at the 5% patch and used the Photoshop Histogram Standard Deviation
as a measure of the relative roughness of the print at that point.  I think
this gives a reasonable measure that correlates with visual appearance.  (I
have no authoritative citation for this, however.)

At any rate, here are some measures of 5% patch standard deviations.  The
lower the number, the smoother the print highlights.  I've also included the
50% reading.  All samples are on EEM/EAM.  All were at 1440 as far as I can
tell.

Printer/Driver-curve/Ink	5% Std. Dev.	50% Std. Dev.

2200/IP5/Neutral tint		5.54			5.03

870/neutral/MIS-VMS		2.15			3.56

3000/Neutral/VMS			4.80			7.91

1280/Neutral/MIS VM		2.56			3.38

1280/Piezo/FS-N			3.04			4.34

1280/Blk only/PT			7.46			10.2


Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com