RE: Pictorico pinholes

[Eric Neilsen <ejnphoto@sbcglobal.net>]

I should add that these layers are ONLY used to look for dust. After you are
done, you can trash them to keep your files a bit smaller. : ) And you use
them one at a time, or at least that is how I do them. 

Eric Neilsen Photography
4101 Commerce Street
Suite 9
Dallas, TX 75226
http://e.neilsen.home.att.net
http://ericneilsenphotography.com
Skype ejprinter
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Diana Bloomfield [mailto:dhbloomfield@bellsouth.net]
> Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 9:27 AM
> To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
> Subject: Re: Pictorico pinholes
> 
> Hi Eric,
> 
> Thanks.  Good advice, all.
> 
> I am still getting a couple of pinholes, but nothing nearly as bad as
> before.  So I do think the humidifier helped a lot.  I had  noticed
> that when I was pulling apart the sheets (before I used the
> humidifier), I would do it slowly enough, but there would still be
> this crackling kind of noise.  Ouch.  That really didn't sound good,
> but I could never actually *see* a problem, but I suspect there was
> definitely some little flaking or lift off, as you say--and always
> random.  I really wouldn't have thought it was that dry in this
> house, but I also wonder about having the packet of unopened
> Pictorico sitting around here for several months.  Anyway, so  I also
> just ordered a new packet altogether (like I have nothing better to
> spend my money on), and I'll see what that's like.   Thanks, Eric.  I
> do appreciate all the good suggestions!
> 
> Diana
> 
> 
> On Dec 4, 2006, at 10:13 AM, Eric Neilsen wrote:
> 
> > Diana,  You might find that adding humidity to the sheet before
> > printing
> > might take care of it. Here is my reasoning:
> >
> > What makes this sheet work? Something on a plastic sheet holds the
> > ink. If
> > it is dried out, then perhaps it is not able to handle the ink, and
> > areas
> > that have the slightest bit of problem, don't absorb the ink and it
> > goes to
> > the next open space. You may also slow down when you peel them
> > apart. I find
> > that the sheets can stay together quite well and you may be seeing
> > a flaking
> > or lift off.
> >
> > Or ... you just have a slight hiccup in the ink follow. Most prints
> > are made
> > at 1440 or 720 while digital negs run at 2880. Since it is a random
> > event,
> > the file is not more than likely at fault.
> >
> > As for checking for missed dust spotting after unsharp
> > masking,...   There
> > is an action that I picked up from the NAPP site that has a "look
> > for light,
> > and look for dark" specks. By alternating a curve between 100% and
> > 0% with
> > the curve window set to 10 instead of 4, you can drive the pixel
> > apart and
> > look at your image at extremes.( start one at 0 and the other at
> > 100)  You
> > make two curve layer adjustments and apply one to dark and one to
> > light.
> > This allows you to see the minute flaws that you might otherwise
> > miss. Clean
> > them up BEFORE unsharp masking and they will not be a problem. It
> > was posted
> > to work with in camera digital capture but I find it works well
> > with scanned
> > images quite well.
> >
> >
> > Ok, so some WAG and some good advice, what more can you ask for on
> > a MOnday
> > morning....
> >
> >
> > Eric
> >
> >
> > Eric Neilsen Photography
> > 4101 Commerce Street
> > Suite 9
> > Dallas, TX 75226
> > http://e.neilsen.home.att.net
> > http://ericneilsenphotography.com
> > Skype ejprinter
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Diana Bloomfield [mailto:dhbloomfield@bellsouth.net]
> >> Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2006 10:30 PM
> >> To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
> >> Subject: Re: Pictorico pinholes
> >>
> >> Hi David,
> >>
> >> I had to think about that for a minute . . . but maybe that would
> >> reveal something, *if* the pinholes consistently appeared in the same
> >> place every time, but they don't.
> >> On a brighter note, I've had the humidifier going in that room for a
> >> while now, and I've printed off 2 since then.  The first was
> >> significantly better, but still had a couple of little pinholes, but
> >> much smaller.  I printed a second one that was also good, but still a
> >> couple of pinholes.  I'm now printing off a third one.  So I'm
> >> thinking it really is a humidity issue.  At least I hope this
> >> corrects the problem.
> >>
> >> Thanks for all the suggestions.
> >>
> >> Diana
> >>
> >> On Dec 3, 2006, at 10:33 PM, davidhatton@totalise.co.uk wrote:
> >>
> >>>  Hi,
> >>>
> >>> You could try printing the image upside down. That should help you
> >>> find out what's going on
> >>>
> >>> David H
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Dec 4 2006, Jack Fulton wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Diana:
> >>> Every once in a while occurrences such as this happen . . and, watch
> >>> out, you will go crazy.
> >>> Some thoughts:
> >>> 1. Sometimes, particularly during the winter, voltage varies in the
> >>> home . . . a voltage stabilizer can aid by stopping spikes and
> >>> drops in the voltage coming into the home. A rather inexpensive one,
> >>> made in China (of course) is the OPTI/UPS Model #
> >>> SS1200 . . . I think the cost is around $35
> >>>
> >>> 2. You mention static electricity and if it is very dry where you
> >>> live that might be a part of the problem. Can you walk across your
> >>> rug, shuffling your feet, and then when touching a doorknob make a
> >>> spark? That indicates static electricity. An aid to that is to
> >>> take a metal portion of your printer and screw a wire (such as
> >>> telephone wire available @ a good hardware or electronics store)
> >>> and run it to a ground such as a pipe for water. Do not stick it
> >>> into
> >>> your wall plug outlet.
> >>>
> >>> These things might help. Surges in home voltage can cause a piezo-
> >>> electric head to spurt more or not spurt. I noticed various errors
> >>> while running 2 Epson 7800 printers of my one G5 Macintosh.
> >>> Another colleague had similar glitches and was printing of large 36
> >>> x 48 inch paper. It would print and then run a bad line or two,
> >>> therefore ruining the paper. He actually had to purchase a new
> >>> computer (a used Mac G4 with tons of great software) and that cured
> >>> his problem. Everything else on the computer worked but when
> >>> printing. And, he downloaded al new drivers, cleaned, etc. just as
> >>> you have done.
> >>>
> >>> So, that is three things to think about.
> >>> Best of fortune with this pesky problem
> >>> Jack Fulton
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On December2006, at 3:58 PM, Diana Bloomfield wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Hi all,
> >>>
> >>> I have a question maybe someone can answer here. I > have used
> >>> Pictorico for a while, with an Epson 2200. I have been > working on
> >>> one particular negative, and every single time I print > it, on
> >>> Pictorico, I get these little pinholes (always always up in > the
> >>> blank sky area). I have cleaned everything-- my house, the > dog,
> >>> the computer/scanner/printer, the room itself, and I've > cleaned
> >>> the
> >>> original negative obsessively. The entire > room/computer/scanner/
> >>> printer/negative/dog are cleaner than > they've ever been. I opened
> >>> up a new packet of Pictorico, thinking > that maybe something was
> >>> wrong with the original packet I was > using. But the first one out
> >>> of the box--I printed it, and it was > all clean, except for about 6
> >>> little pinholes in the sky. Well, > they vary in size. I'm going
> >>> crazy with this.
> >>>
> >>> They > don't seem to be dust marks; they just look more like little
> >>>> places where the ink isn't going down properly--or something. So I
> >>>> don't know if this is a static electricity problem or a humidity
> >>>> problem or what. I really haven't a clue. So if anyone else has
> >>>> suffered from this, please tell me what to do about these little
> >>>> pinholes. I'm going crazy here.
> >>>
> >>> Thanks for any help!
> >>>>
> >>> Diana
> >>>
> >>>
> >
> >
> >