Larry Roohr (roohrphoto@orci.com)
Sat, 10 Apr 1999 11:03 -0600
Adam,
I've been working on this as time allows (last night in fact). I've gotten density's over 5 with the Epson 'backlight film' on my EX, but the ink starts to smear and get ugly at some point under that. But it looks like at a 3 or so things are fine. The backlight film is a 1440 dpi product and has a base density of .44, about a stop worse than film. The Epson glossy paper has a base of about .88.
At the higher density's the curve gets pretty steep and quite a bit of compression is needed to get to say a .4 to 1.6 type density, last night I had to compress a gray scale tossing out 88 of 255 levels to get this density range, so thats another concern. For a platinum neg, say .4 to 2.4 it wouldnt be quite as bad but would be close due to the steep slope. Where the curve gets applied may make a difference here, I dont yet know where would be best.
I've also heard great things about the 750 and the new 1200, 6 colors and a 6 picoliter drop (half that of current printers). The new 950 is 4 colors and a 3 picoliter drop and is probably a better choice for mono-negative making, it's only letter size though, the 1200 is 13x17inches or so.
I've sent Epson way too much money over the last few years, looks like their going to 'get' me again.
Larry
----Original Message-----
>From: Adam Kimball <akimball@finebrand.com>
>To: alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca
>Subject: Epson Platinums?
>Reply-To: alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca
>Date: Saturday, April 10, 1999 1:09 AM
>
>While working on some digital gum negatives tonight, I brought up a question that
>I've considered many times. Why not use waxed paper negs from an Epson inkjet
>for Pt/Pd, Kallitype, etc? I'm spending countless hours (and dollars) lately
>working on my 300LPI imagesetter negatives- while the technology of desktop
>inkjets soars. For anyone who is wondering about the quality of inkjets, check
>out any news on the new Epson Stylus 750 - it is getting some very favorable
>reviews from photographers on the epson mailing list...
>
>The main issue, I've always thought is - density. Inkjet's aren't known for
>putting down very dense ideposits. So, I busted out the densitometer and checked
>a digital wedge - waxed in paraffin for gum.
>
>Base: .25
>90% Black: 1.92
>95% Black: 2.57
>99% Black 3.24
>
>So, density wouldn't be a problem - far from it. I keep my gum negative's
>highlights around 85%, so I can't vouch for the ability of my Epson 700 to
>seperate these values very well - but I see no reason why they wouldn't. As for
>dots, they are quite tiny on my ancient printer (well, 8 months old..) - and I've
>seen drum scans of prints of the 750 which positively destroy my 700.
>
>So, anyone out there doing work in Pt/Pd, Zia, Kallitype, Argyrotype, etc with
>these printers - or must I add yet another set of tests to my list ;)
>
>-Adam
>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Thu Oct 28 1999 - 21:39:30