From: Garet Denise (garet@rmi.net)
Date: 02/08/00-05:59:05 PM Z
Paul,
I recently bought an Epson 1160, which has the same print engine as the 750
(or maybe the 740? ...I can't keep track of them). I am quite happy with
it making negatives for gum printing. I'm still getting things dialed in,
but so far I have been able to get plenty of density. I have been printing
on Epson's Photo Quality paper. This is coated, but not the glossy stuff.
The print driver has a setting for flipping the image left-right so you can
contact print emulsion to emulsion (look in the advanced or custom
section). To cut the exposure times by 1 to 2 stops make the paper more
translucent with paraffin or mineral oil (read the archives at
http://www.listquest.com/lq/search.html?ln=altphotoprocess). My early
attempts with plain office paper showed a slight paper texture using
paraffin, so I've used the mineral oil until recently. However, the
mineral oil does tend to dry out with time. I'm now using the paraffin
with the photo quality paper, which has far less "grain" in the paper
stock. Put the paraffin on from the back side, the coating on the front
repels it. Make sure to use clean paper under your paper negative when
oiling or waxing since the ink on newsprint will offset and cause smudges.
I highly recommend getting Dan Burkholder's book "Making Digital Negatives
For Contact Printing". He goes to great length to help you understand the
ways in which the things we are trying to do with these printers is very
different from what the manufacturer has designed them for. In particular,
you WILL need to apply an adjustment curve to get the tonalities anywhere
near correct. I'm still tweaking my curves, but my initial efforts did not
result in nearly enough separation in the shadows.
Stumbling blindly ahead of you in the digital darkness (and behind many
others)....
Garet Denise
garet@rmi.net
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