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Re: Digital Negatives with enough Tones for Pt/Pd



Nick Makris wrote:
> 
> Maybe we should put an end to this one.

Man, you got that right.

> ...  I must relate an observation that pertains to an an 8 bit
> Photoshop file that produces posterization in the highlights when the
> negative for Pt/Pd is printed on an inkjet printer (not all my 8 bit images
> do so).  I have also sent this same image (exactly the same file) out to a
> Lightjet lab and the resulting Pt/Pd prints appear continuous in almost
> every respect.  ...

However, My understanding is that the Lightjet (by software or whatever)
will "fill in" information to make a smooth transition from one tone to
another.  So it is expected that the resulting print will have a nice
continuous tone, but this will not be the original information, it is
information fabricated by the Lightjet whatever.  And herein still
remains the problem, that original subtleties of tonality are not
transferred to the print.

This may be checked, if the Lightjet can be instructed to not massage,
smooth, add, or whatever any of the data and only print what it is
given.  I believe than the resulting print will be similar (including
the noticeable posterization) to that of the inkjet printer, assuming
the information in the file is 8-bit.  I do not know if such a print
could be ordered because this seems counter to the function of the
Lightjet.

So we are still back at being restricted to 8-bit data in a file and an
8-bit printer, and how to get the original tones from negative to
print.  I cannot give up on this point as it is a make or break for me
as to building digital negatives.

-- 
Jeffrey D. Mathias
http://home.att.net/~jeffrey.d.mathias/