Digital BW, The Print

Dear Clayton,

  Thanks for the marvellous details in your reply. Your explanation
helps me to understand just what is going on and why my eye sees what
it does.
 Yes, the BO prints DO have a luminosity, a glow that is quite
amazing. And, yes, the 2400 prints look just fine until you place them
next to a BO print. Then they look a tad 'blocked'. 
 With all my fiddling around I finally did manage to get the output of
the 2400 to look very close to the BO prints. VERY close, so I am
pleased and relieved.
 You know, the 220 prints SO well that I am tempted to buy a second
one and put it away as a backup. The place I bought mine from still
sells them for $69. It's a steal.

 :)

 Thanks again for your ever-present willing help
 I deeply appreciate it.

  Howard

 


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Clayton Jones"
<cj@...> wrote:
>
> Hello Howard,
> 
> Sorry to come into this so late.  Have been busy all day & evening.
> 
> There are several things going on here.  First the dmax.  As Carl
> said, Eboni has slightly better dmax than MK on most matte papers
> except Epson ones.  So if you tried it on VFA the result might be
> different.  Also, Eboni is a bit cooler than MK, which can make the
> blacks appear darker to the eye.  Another thing is that in BO prints
> the blacks are made from pure black ink.  With full ink systems there
> is usually a mixture of MK and LK way down into the darkest zones,
> only getting to pure black ink at RGB 0 and 1, maybe 2 (above 99%).  
> 
> Dmax tests that print patches of pure black usually show just as good
> a dmax with full ink systems.  But in most real world prints even the
> darkest areas only get all the way to RGB 0 in small areas, so there's
> often very few places that contain pure black ink.  The end result of
> this varies with different combinations of ink, paper, printer and
> driver, but in general, most of the systems I've tried or viewed
> produce slightly less dmax than BO, with normal images.  This is why I
> use Eboni BO for all my tests in the Paper Chase article.
> 
> Next, the general look and feel.  BO prints are famous for their
> intensity, or "pop", or whatever you want to call it.  Besides the
> excellent dmax, there a clarity to the ink tones that comes from the
> pure K ink without anything else blended in.  There is also the
> incredible luminance or "glow", which is caused by the bare paper that
> shows between the dots.  Because BO prints don't get to full paper
> coverage (no more white specs showing) until around 85% or so (it
> varies with the paper), this luminance extends way down into the lower
> mid-tones.  The paper is reflective, so the resulting prints have this
> wonderful clear, open and radiant look to them.  
> 
> Full ink systems don't allow this bare paper to show and as a result
> have a slightly veiled or opaque look.  The degree of this effect, as
> with dmax, varies with different combinations of ink, paper, printer
> and driver.  The result is that a full ink print can look great until
> you put a BO print next to it, and suddenly it looks weak in comparison.
> 
> What I like about the 2400 is that its prints have better luminance
> than many full ink systems I've seen.  It allows more bare paper to
> show between the ink dots in the highlights than many other systems. 
> For example, I'm using the R2 ink sets in my R200, so I can do Eboni
> BO and smooth full ink prints with it.  It's really quite good, but
> the R2 prints are more veiled and opaque looking than ABW/K3 prints
> because there is no bare paper showing anywhere except at RGB 254 and
> 255 (0%).   The ABW prints show bare paper down to around RGB 190
(25%).  
> 
> The resulting K3 prints are not as clear and glowing as BO prints, but
> they are much better than many other full ink systems.  BO's great
> weakness of course is the graininess, which can be a curse or a
> blessing, depending on the image.
> 
> I'm very pleased with the R200/2400 combination.  I still use BO for
> prints that look good with it, and the 2400 is producing really
> beautiful prints that are wonderfully smooth with the three blacks. 
> I'm finding it a good combination, but I do miss my trusty old 2200
> because now I'm limited to letter size BO prints.
> 
> So you might as well give up trying to make a K3 print look like a BO
> one.  It's just an excercise in frustration.  Just learn to wring the
> most you can out of the 2400 and be thankful.
> 
> ps - there is still the possibility of getting good BO from a 2400
> using a RIP.  I tried it with QTR last fall but the results were poor
> due to a very coarse dot pattern.  Roy says the later versions have
> better 2400 handling and maybe it's improved.  I've been too busy to
> try it, but hope to get to it after the end of May when I'll have more
> time.  I haven't given up on it yet.
> 
> Regards,
> Clayton
> 
> 
> Info on black and white digital printing at    
> http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm
>