FDanB@aol.com
Date: 03/08/02-11:10:48 AM Z
You said in your message...
>But with the better printer, I'm not sure why you wouldn't just print
>your negative in black. The spectral density methods in my opinion are
>best viewed as a workaround for the fact that the older printers don't
>print well in black on transparency material.
This is...somewhat true. The spectral density methods were more designed
to overcome the limitations of transparency film. Epson's own film has a
very thin gelatin coating that can't hold much ink. Try to build a
Physical Density on Epson's film (using all 4/6 inks) and you get
puddling. When better films like Pictorico OHP arrived, we could lay down
more ink and get good densities without jumping through colorization
hoops.
Now the rules have changed back again. Epson's newest printers (the
1280/1290) are problematic, even with a good gel coating like that on the
Pictorico OHP. Though these new printers use the EXACT SAME ink
cartridges as their predecessors, they put MUCH more ink onto the film or
paper. The result is puddling or uneven densities, even with the best
transparency film. (Another "result" is more ink cartridge sales for
Epson.)
This takes us back to the Spectral Density approach. There may be other
ways to make the 1280/1290 produce great platinum or cyanotype negs (and
I hope someone suggests one) but the colorization method seems like a
good bet for now.
>You might be able to reduce the ink pooling by fooling the printer and using
> a setting that would lay down less ink.... you would do this by choosing a
> different media in the printer set up window.
You can play with these variable and see what happens. As a general rule,
in the print dialog box, the amount of ink deposited increases as you go
DOWN the list. Watch the trade-off as the "low-ink" choices can limit the
printer's resolution. It's something of a juggling act to get both the
best resolution and right amount of ink.
About the color. As Katherine and others have suggested, you should run
tests, including a step tablet with your image. 0-55-55-0 works well with
Pictorico but I've heard of others who still like the 0-71-71-0. These
are subtle orange differences that might make a difference with your
printer and final printing medium.
Hope this helps!
Dan
www.danburkholder.com
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