Digital negatives for carbon transfer printing:Agfa Copyjet / QTR / Epson 2100 (2200)

The Agfa Copyjet print at 1440 DPI does not exhibit any ink pooling, however the 2880 DPI print does exhibit ink pooling at around 85%.

I do have banding unfortunately on on the 'Black' and 'Light Black' wedges.

Tom

A sheet of ILFORD Galerie is in the wash, having been contacted with the QTR calibration mode image for 11 seconds under tungsten halogen enlarger light. I will try and scan the print once washed and dried. First impressions are:

Effective: Black, Yellow, Light Black
Somewhat effective: Cyan, Magenta
Not effective: Light Cyan, Light Magenta


Tom

Here is a scan of the contact print:



Immediately obvious is the significant degree of banding in the 'Black' and 'Light Black' wedges as noted earlier.

Tom

Tom Kershaw said:

Sandy,

I've just downloaded the QTR software and printed out the Mac OS X print tutorial. I found 'The QuadTone RIP manual - Using QTR to make optimal digital negatives' by Ron Reeder, February 2009; which appears to be useful, although the author bases the tutorial around the Epson 3800.

Tom

Click to expand...

Clay Harmon has a 2200 QTR curve file attached somewhere on the HybridPgoto forum for palladium. You should be able to use that to start with. After determining your minimum substrate printing time get your minimum ink adjustment set for producing pure white on the print, then linearize or curve adjust to get correct tonal density and spacing through the rest of the digital step tablet.

Don Bryant

Don Bryant said:

Clay Harmon has a 2200 QTR curve file attached somewhere on the HybridPgoto forum for palladium. You should be able to use that to start with. After determining your minimum substrate printing time get your minimum ink adjustment set for producing pure white on the print, then linearize or curve adjust to get correct tonal density and spacing through the rest of the digital step tablet.

Don Bryant

Click to expand...

Don,

The QTR profile that I sent Tom is probably the same one Clay posted at some time in the past for palladium printing except for the internal curve, which I changed for my carbon printing. As far as I can recall I never changed any of the ink percentages. I have used it on the Epson 2200 with both PK and MK and it works nicely for carbon printing. UV blocking density is about log 2.8 with PK and log 3.3 with MK. Both print well.

Curious to me that the MK on thh 2200 prints with fine grain with this profile. On the 3800 all profiles that I have used with MK print with a lot of grain with UV processes, though not in silver. For example, Ron has a profile for VC papers that prints very smooth in silver with the MK ink.

Sandy

Tom Kershaw said:

I've just printed out the Quadtone RIP 'calibration mode' graphic on Agfa Copyjet and got a rather faint and grainy looking image on the transparency.

A scan of the Copyjet film with a piece of A4 backing paper:

The QuadTone RIP settings:

Tom

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How did you print this? From what I can see this isn't the official QTR calibration file, at least like the one I use on my PC that allows one to test ink limits on their substrate.

Don Bryant

Don Bryant said:

How did you print this? From what I can see this isn't the official QTR calibration file, at least like the one I use on my PC that allows one to test ink limits on their substrate.

Don Bryant

Click to expand...

It looks like the step wedge that Ron Reeder provides for creating a curve with QTR.

Sandy

sanking said:

Don,

The QTR profile that I sent Tom is probably the same one Clay posted at some time in the past for palladium printing except for the internal curve, which I changed for my carbon printing. As far as I can recall I never changed any of the ink percentages. I have used it on the Epson 2200 with both PK and MK and it works nicely for carbon printing. UV blocking density is about log 2.8 with PK and log 3.3 with MK. Both print well.

Curious to me that the MK on thh 2200 prints with fine grain with this profile. On the 3800 all profiles that I have used with MK print with a lot of grain with UV processes, though not in silver. For example, Ron has a profile for VC papers that prints very smooth in silver with the MK ink.

Sandy

Click to expand...

Sandy I think we've seen that different colors or types of ink may behave differently form inkset to inkset. As an example with the 2200 the emerald green color path could be counted on to print very smoothly for palladium and as we discovered that didn't work to well on the 3800.

And of course the print head technology differs from printer to printer not to mention that a RIP by-passes Epson's driver which is used to maximize image quality for ink jet printing, especially in the new generation of printers.

And speaking of the latest printers, according to a post from Roy Harrington on the QTR Yahoo forum recently Epson isn't sharing the interface details for Roy to support the latest printers like the 7900 and 9900. So once again inkjet printing for digital negatives maybe in flux if one chooses to use these new printers.

Theres so much promise with new technology but as usual Epson is trying to twart non OEM printing solutions.

Don

I have used Sandy King's profile for the Epson 2200 to print out a digital negative at 2880 DPI. However, the negative shows extensive banding on axis with the print head. Is this fault likely the result of a blocked head?

Tom

Tom Kershaw said:

I have used Sandy King's profile for the Epson 2200 to print out a digital negative at 2880 DPI. However, the negative shows extensive banding on axis with the print head. Is this fault likely the result of a blocked head?

Tom

Click to expand...

Tom,

In the QTR dialog box do you have the driver set to unidirectional printing, and adaptive hybrid? Also, make sure that in print setting you have selected QuadTone Rip, Mode is set to QuadTone Rip, and curve is the QTR profile that I sent you. Also, make sure that the value of Curve 1 is set to 100%, and that split tone curve blending is deselected.

The type of banding I saw in your example does suggest something major is wrong, either with the hardware or settings.

Sandy King

Sandy,

I had the driver set to Bi-directional printing and 'no' advanced settings - i.e. ordered dithering.

Tom

Tom Kershaw said:

Sandy,

I had the driver set to Bi-directional printing and 'no' advanced settings - i.e. ordered dithering.

Tom

Click to expand...

Tom,

I have only printed with that profile using Uni-directional printing at 2880 spi and adaptive dithering. You should not get any banding with those setting, and if you do something is probably wrong with the printer.

Sandy King

Here are some scans to show results:

Crop of negative printed 2880 DPI uni-directional printing, and adaptive hybrid dithering:



Silver gelatin contact print from above negative:



Initial, bi-directional, ordered dithering negative:



Crop showing banding from contact print of above negative:



Noted are the significant colour differences between the two negatives, printed with the same QuadTone RIP profile (Sandy King's). The issue could well be blocked print heads.


Tom

Print heads are blocked or otherwise misaligned...run the test patterns and check.

PVia said:

Print heads are blocked or otherwise misaligned...run the test patterns and check.

Click to expand...

I suspected as much. Do you have any experience with cleaning cartridges? e.g: http://www.permajet.com/product/418/Epson_2100.html

Tom

No I don't - can you run a deep cleaning cycle from the Epson software? Should be able to, as I can on my 3800.

Tom Kershaw said:

I suspected as much. Do you have any experience with cleaning cartridges? e.g: http://www.permajet.com/product/418/Epson_2100.html

Tom

Click to expand...

Tom,

There have been times when I've simply had to replace a cart on my 2200 to get the clog to clear. IOW, fresh ink can work to resolve clogs. I would try that before trying to using a cleaning flush cart(s). You really have nothing to loose. If it works you've solved your problem. If it doesn't then you can still use the cart after flushing with a head cleaning cart.

You may also wish to try a nozzle cleaning purge pattern that prints solid bands of color. Look on the MIS - Inksupply.com web site for the appropriate file. If you can't find it I may have a copy I can send to you.

Additionally, you can try the Windex - ammonia window cleaner method.

1) Take some white copy paper and lightly saturate it with the window cleaner, draw it into the printer with the paper advance button.

2) Press the ink cart replacement button and once the head moves from the parked home position, pull the power plug. You can now move the head freely and carefully pull the damp sheet of paper forward. Carefully move the head over the dampened paper and leave it sit over night. The paper should cockle but not be soggy.

3) Carefully remove the paper after the over night parking. There will probably be some sludge on the paper. Remove the soiled paper. Use a piece of dry paper and carefully work it under the head and gently move the head to and fro across the paper to aid in wiping any loosened ink. If you can take a look at the parking pad and check for any large ink clots on the pad. If so carefully blot those off with a dry paper towel. If the pad seems to be dry carefully add one drop of undiluted window cleaner to the pad. No more. Full disclosure here Windex is reported to be corrosive to the internal mechanisms of the print head. Never fill a refillable cart with it to clean your heads. Once you have removed all the paper and re-moistened the parking pad power on the printer so the head will park and let it sit for a few more hours. After that turn the printer on and do a nozzle check. If necessary run a cleaning cycle followed by a nozzle check. Repeat 3 times if necessary. Never run more than 3 head cleaning cycles without letting the printer rest for a few hours. If the nozzles still show clogging print a page or two of the purge pattern. If that doesn't clear the clog and replacing all of the ink carts doesn't clear the clog (after waiting another over night period) then you are into head cleaning fluid territory. Follow the manufacturers instructions and cross your fingers.

4) If that still doesn't work then you maybe able to find a repair service that can refurb the heads. Epson won't touch that model now. At that point you will need to make a decision to refurb the printer or replace it. Your call.

That's my brain dump for the evening. Perhaps someone else can suggest a different remedy.

Don

Tom,

BTW, you are using Epson inks aren't you? If not replace your ink with OEM ink carts. That has also solved weird clogging problems for me over the years.

Don

Let's see the nozzle check. If it is good, then clogging is not the problem and running the head alignment routine may help.

Don,

Yes, I'm using Epson cartridges.

Tom

Printout of nozzle check pattern:



The most immediately noticeable factors are the lack of the black ink, the two black bars in the light magenta ink, and the gaps in the light black ink.

Tom

Well, there you go...the first rule when you see banding is to run the check, which you did. So now, run the cleaning cycle. There may be a normal clean cycle and a deep clean cycle. Most use the normal first and run the check again, if it's not printing perfectly, then run the deep clean, and check again.

The cleaning cycles use ink, just so you know.

I phoned up the company marketing the PermaJet cleaning cartridges. Apparently the cartridges will do up to 10 runs through the printer for cleaning so would seem to be a good option. I may then go to a continuous inking system from Fotospeed if I decide to make digital negatives part of my standard workflow.

Tom

Tom...did you or did you NOT run a cleaning cycle and/or a deep clean cycle?

I have not run a cleaning cycle yet.

Tom