[filmscanners] Re: B & W - Tips required...

["Bard Martin" <bardmartin@earthlink.net>]

Austin and all --

For those of you considering printing B&W images using Cone Piezography Inks
(Inkjetmall.com) CAVEAT EMPTOR.  Their pigmented inks, while theoretically
more "archival" than others on the market, can cause horrendous clogging
problems in Epson Inkjet printers.

>From what I've heard, and in my own experience, at best the user will spend
a great deal of extra time with tedious and elaborate procedures to keep the
ink flowing through the nozzles.  In the worst case scenario, a 3000 or 1200
simply will not function with the inks.  In my case (and in the case of two
other photogs I know of) the clogging became so bad that I will have to pay
over $200 to replace the printing heads in my 1200 if I want to use it
again.

Cone does not mention all this in its advertisements.  Their web site,
however, is replete with instructions on dealing with the clogging problems,
and if you talk their tech people eventually you will reach the conclusion
that uneven quality in certain Epson printer models makes a decision to use
the inks similar to the decision one makes before playing Russian Roulette.

At this point I'm using an Epson 2200 with Epson inks to print b&w images
and have nary a problem.  My only consideration is that with their
(partially) pigmented inks, as with those of other manufacturers, it is
still seems difficult if not impossible to achieve the kind of deep blacks
we are used to seeing in traditional b&w photographic prints.

I'm eager to see what I find on the paulrourke.com web site.

--  Bard


> From: "Austin Franklin" <austin@darkroom.com>
> Reply-To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
> Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2003 12:58:05 -0500
> To: bardmartin@earthlink.net
> Subject: [filmscanners] RE: B & W - Tips required...
>
> Hi Bob,
>
>>> 1/ Should i keep the files as RGB or convert to grayscale?
>>
>> Look at each channel R, B, G).  In my experience they will be
>> identical;
>
> They can't be identical on a CCD scanner...simply because the channels have
> different bloom/smear characteristics.  The red channel will be fuzzier,
> then the blue, and the green should be the sharpest.  That does not mean use
> the green channel, BTW...  I believe the best B&W image is made by either
> using a scanner that scans in B&W (Leafscan is the only one I know) or
> scanning in RGB and using the channel mixer in PS.
>
> Also, there are tonal variations in the three channels, though you may not
> see it unless you look carefully.  They are significant, at least to me.
>
>>> 2/ What dpi/ppi should i keep the files (8 x 10 inch prints)?
>
> Print size should not matter at scan time.  I always suggest scanning at the
> optical resolution of the scanner.  That is the best you can get...and
> scanning at less than that degrades the data.
>
> You should do your output size/PPI to your output device tailored to your
> output device.  When inkjet printing, just set the image size, and let the
> PPI to the printer fall where it does (don't resample), as there is no magic
> PPI to the printer for Epson printers, anyway.  For web and pre-press image
> output, the PPI actually does matter and should be changed to match your
> requirements.  100PPI for web images, and pre-press is up to the pre-press
> folks, so contact them for that info.
>
>> B&W grayscale is not the strong suit of most desktop computer
>> printers.
>
> Not any more.  I have heard the new 2200 Epson printers do a spectacular
> job.  Also, if using quadtone/hextone inks in, say, an Epson 3000, not much
> can beat it.  The images are amazing.  Check www.inkjetmall.com, or
> www.paulrourke.com for info on printing B&W on Epson printers.
>
> Regards,
>
> Austin
>
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