R2400 QTR profiles

Just getting started with this whole digital negatives thing. Done lots of reading (both online and old-fashioned books, including Ron Reeder and Brad Hinkel's) and am looking forward to starting in as I have a project that I want to do in alt-processes. As I'm new to that arena as well, I'm starting with cyanotypes and then going on to do salt prints and (eventually) Pt/Pd.

I have an Epson R2400 (with the UC-K3 inks) and QTR installed and working properly (printed several test prints and they look great). Pictorico OHP is on its way. I know I have lots of testing to do, but I'm wondering if anyone has any QTR profiles for cyanotypes and/or salt for the R2400. Obviously the two processes I'm starting with are miles apart on the contrast range, and deliberately chosen for this (and other) reasons. I realize I am going to have to test and tweak for both of these, but was hoping someone might have profiles that would get me in the ballpark. I'd be surprised if someone has a salt profile laying around as it's not that popular of a process.

Any help, profiles, suggestions, would all be greatly appreciated!

-- Kevin Landdeck
www.flickr.com/photos/shudaizi

Papercut said:

As I'm new to that arena as well, I'm starting with cyanotypes and then going on to do salt prints and (eventually) Pt/Pd.

Any help, profiles, suggestions, would all be greatly appreciated!

-- Kevin Landdeck
www.flickr.com/photos/shudaizi

Click to expand...

Kevin

My bias is that I would start by learning pure palladium printing first (with a touch of NA2 contrast agent to keep the whites clean). I think palladium printing has fewer variables and the chance of getting a good looking print in the first few tries is better. Then I would go on to the more tricky processes.

But, whichever you start with, I only have one QTR profile written for the 2400. It is an older, perfectly good profile, for printing palladium. When I wrote it I was writing profiles to use only the mK and the LK inks. Nowadays I know that using all the inks leads to smoother tones, but this two ink profile could get you started.

I also attach a palladium profile for the 3800. The 3800 uses the same inkset as the 2400 but the ink limits may need to be adjusted up or down a bit.

Good luck, Ron Reeder

Thanks Ron!
I've read your book cover-to-cover (and all the articles on your site too) and can't wait to get started.

I was afraid someone was going to say "start with Pd." I thought about that route for quite some time, but two things swayed me. The first being the obvious one of cost (nothing is as cheap as cyanotype and salt is quite affordable too). The second is that both are POP processes, so that with just a little experience I should be able to eyeball exposure. I don't have a totally repeatable UV source (the sun is pretty reliable in the Bay Area for the spring-summer-autumn but still a far cry from an indoor UV unit), so POP processes seemed like a reasonable way to begin.

Thanks for the curves. Once the OHP gets here, I'll re-read your article on using all the inks and maybe try my hand at editing the two-ink profile in that direction.

I taught a workshop a month ago where we used QTR and Mike Ware's New Cyanotype process. They had Epson 2400 printers, so I developed a profile for this printer. Keep in mind that I used the photo black inks (pK) rather than the matte black that Ron uses in his profiles, so it will need adjusting if you keep matte black loaded instead of photo black. Also note that the New cyanotype process requires a more contrasty negative than you would typically use for traditional A+B cyanotype. But, feel free to use this and see if it works for you.

Also note that I had to change the extension on the file to .txt instead of .qidf to get the upload manager on this site to allow me to upload it. You may want to change it back.

Thanks very much, Clay!

I have pK ink too, so I can switch easily enough. Do you remember which substrate this profile was for? I'm using Pictorico OHP.

I designed it for Pictorico.

clay said:

I taught a workshop a month ago where we used QTR and Mike Ware's New Cyanotype process. They had Epson 2400 printers, so I developed a profile for this printer. Keep in mind that I used the photo black inks (pK) rather than the matte black that Ron uses in his profiles, so it will need adjusting if you keep matte black loaded instead of photo black. Also note that the New cyanotype process requires a more contrasty negative than you would typically use for traditional A+B cyanotype. But, feel free to use this and see if it works for you.

Also note that I had to change the extension on the file to .txt instead of .qidf to get the upload manager on this site to allow me to upload it. You may want to change it back.

Click to expand...

You need to upload 2400New.acv since this curve is referenced in the profile

Oops. Yep, here it is. Remove the .txt extension before using!

pschwart said:

You need to upload 2400New.acv since this curve is referenced in the profile

Click to expand...