Digital BW, The Print

In followup to the discussion on QTR Create ICC and and the shadow 
compression issue I looked at the ABW driver settings.  A selection 
of "Light" (instead of the Neutral-Darker default setting) in ABW 
produced the following numbers.  These are for blacks at 90 to 100.  
The ABW Light is shown first, the default ABW Neutral-Darker second 
in parentheses:

HPR:

90  23.93 (18.42)
92  21.68 (17.69)
94  19.90 (17.21)
96  17.99 (16.94)
98  17.19 (16.69)
100 16.91 (16.80)  

VFA:

90  24.67 (19.38)
92  22.72 (17.60)
94  20.68 (16.41)
96  18.63 (15.48)
98  16.66 (14.47)
100 14.19 (13.83)

Note that on both papers there is a slight reduction in Dmax with the 
light setting.  Both also showed similarly smooth curves above 90, 
but the Light setting curves have a slight, smooth sag through the 
midrange (darker).

I also tried the "Normal" driver setting (between Neutral-Darker and 
Light) which does about what you'd think it would.  The figures are 
between the other two.  It was just enough to undo the HPR reversal 
(96=17.77, 98=17.15, 100=17.05)

What do others think about the ABW driver settings as a basis for 
Create ICC profiling?  My impression is that the Light setting is a 
better starting point (linearization) for profiling.

Thanks,
Walt