Digital Negatives with an Epson 4000

[Neil Poulsen]

I've been making digital negatives with an Epson 4000 and have been having some trouble with continuous tone prints. (For example, in a smooth sky.) I see specs where there's no ink, or even a hair line. Or, a little tiny circle that appears without ink in its center. There's no evidence of any of this when printing paper. Actually, the same problem is probably occurring with more complex negatives (non-continuous tone). But, it's more than likely camouflaged by the complexity.

I've been using Burkholder's templates and have been seeing some stunning results for pt/pd. (Except for a few tiny dark areas on the pt/pd print.) He calls for using Premium Glossy Photopaper, No color management, neither in the printer driver nor in Photoshop. I've been printing at 1440, consistent with his recommendations in the digital negative companion.

I see where others can get great results with continuous tone prints using a 2200, which like my 4000, uses K2 inks.

So I'm wondering . . .

Should I be using some or other particular settings on the 4000? Like paper thickness or ink deposit?

I've cleaned my printer as best I can. I used a brush connected to a vacuum. I thought maybe specs were flaking off after being covered with ink. Not sure though. As I mentioned above, I see both hairline (1/4"?) and specs. I never see evidence of this when printing on regular inkjet paper, though.

I know that one can spot the negative to turn dark spots into light spots on the print, and then spot those. But, I'd much prefer that this weren't necessary. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Neil Poulsen]

By the way, what's recommended for spotting digital negatives?

 

[MVNelson]

I don't use that printer but most inkjet printers with problems which you are describing benefit immensely from period head alignment and head cleaning using the software driven protocols. Try that and also be very careful doing pysical cleaning of the head(s) itself they can be a bit fragile.. Also I have heard that after doing anything to the head(s) a software driven head alignment is pretty much required...

Good luck


Miles

 

[Keith Taylor]

I've been making digital negatives with an Epson 4000 and have been having some trouble with continuous tone prints. (For example, in a smooth sky.) I see specs where there's no ink, or even a hair line. Or, a little tiny circle that appears without ink in its center. There's no evidence of any of this when printing paper. Actually, the same problem is probably occurring with more complex negatives (non-continuous tone). But, it's more than likely camouflaged by the complexity.

I've been using Burkholder's templates and have been seeing some stunning results for pt/pd. (Except for a few tiny dark areas on the pt/pd print.) He calls for using Premium Glossy Photopaper, No color management, neither in the printer driver nor in Photoshop. I've been printing at 1440, consistent with his recommendations in the digital negative companion.

I see where others can get great results with continuous tone prints using a 2200, which like my 4000, uses K2 inks.

Neil,

I use a 4000 for platinum negs and photogravure positives combined with the PDN system.

I find Dan Burkholder's curve for this printer gives me very soft prints, which is why I opted to use the PDN method and construct my own. There are plenty of other methods to do this, of course.
Here are some variations that work for me and you may want to try.
In CS3, choose Let Photoshop Manage Colors when you go to print (don't forget to switch OFF any colour management in the Epson driver though) and select Enhanced Matte rather than the Glossy Photo setting. I also find that printing at 2880dpi is necessary unless it's an image with a lot of texture. Very rarely do I use 1440dpi. Using these settings I get very smooth tones with no artifacts.

Keith.