Graininess in dense areas

[Daniel K]

Hi everyone! I have an Epson 3880 that I want to use for digital negatives. I printed the QuadtoneRIP ink separation page, and in the densest areas of the ink it looks kind of grainy. (Edit: The photo black ink, that is.) Can I fix this by filling the gaps with more ink with COPY_CURVE? Or Is this a problem with the printer or the film? I'm using cheap film from Aliexpress, but it doesn't look smeared or anything.

Thanks!

 

[RalphLambrecht]

looks very grainy everywhere.for mesa reason not to use the Quadtone RIP.

 

[nmp]

I could be wrong, but it looks to me that you might have some alignment issues, given that the graininess is directional Have you checked that lately? I also think the opacity of the ink (MK? PK?) may not be adequate for your process. Have you looked at dialing in some other colors?

 

[Daniel K]

The ink is photo black. I ran a head alignment and printed another negative, and it seems better, but I haven't yet made another positive from it.

 

[Daniel K]

That was the problem. I printed from the new negative and it looked good. Thanks!

 

[nmp]

That was the problem. I printed from the new negative and it looked good. Thanks!

Great - I am glad it worked. If only all solutions were this simple...

I think you might still find some granularity but it should be more random with the paper playing a significant role. What paper are you using? What process: VDB, salt print?

 

[Daniel K]

It's an Argyrotype on Hahnemühle platinum rag. I'm going to tone them with palladium once I get the basic process working.

 

[nmp]

It's an Argyrotype on Hahnemühle platinum rag. I'm going to tone them with palladium once I get the basic process working.

Sounds interesting, not many people practicing Argyrotypes....please do share your experience and results when you can if you don't mind.