The Quest for Digital B&W

Feisol CT-3401 & Really Right Stuff BH-40

2010-11-20T14:33:00.000-08:00

When I was first looking for a tripod, I read an article by Thom Hogan. After reading the article, I had made up my mind to buy a large tripod with 3 leg sections and a ball head. I bought a Giottos GB4180 aluminum tripod and a Really Right Stuff BH-55 ball head. The combo is really a big set up. I think you could probably use it with any camera/lens and it would be stable. Overkill for me. I think the Hogan article really steered me this way. Hindsight - I would have bought a different tripod.

The current state of my photography centers on getting out for a walk and taking the camera. If I happen to take a few pictures, then cool. If not, I got out for a nice walk. Lugging around the Giottos/BH-55 combo had become a chore and I wanted a smaller tripod. I hunted around the web for a while and starting reading about Feisol. I read a couple good reviews and a couple bad reviews. I decided to take a chance and bought a Feisol CT-3401 tripod. My main priority was having a smaller tripod that would pack down a bit and was light. Also, I decided on carbon fiber as I like to shoot during the winter and the metal tripod gets cold in the hand. The CT-3401 has four-section legs that do not rotate when you extend them. This is a feature is part of their "Rapid" line of tripods.

CT-3401 specs (2010)
max height (no center column) 51.9"
folded length:18.8"
weight: 2.62 lbs
max load:19.8 lbs

The tripod arrived nicely packaged - box in a box. The first thing that stuck me was how light the tripod was. I tried the BH-55 head on it, but it was way oversized and made the tripod very top heavy. I purchased a RRS BH-40 ball head with a clamp head. It matched perfectly. Not exactly precise, but my bathroom scale says this combo is about 4 pounds. I had read a few complaints about the tripod bag not being long enough to fit the tripod with the head attached, but Feisol must have gotten the message because this combo fits in the bag. The RRS storage bag fits over the head and part of the legs while attached to the tripod and provides a little protection out in the field (I already dropped the new head....) The viewfinder of my camera sits at 58". I am 5'10" and have to bend over a bit to look through the viewfinder. Feisol does offer a center column kit for the CT-3401 that adds about 12".

I took the tripod out last Sunday walked around San Francisco for about 4 hours. I don't have a way to attach the tripod to my backpack, so I carried it in hand or over my shoulder for the whole time. I shot with a Canon SLR and a couple different lenses - 28mm, 50mm and 70-200mm. The 70-200mm has a tripod collar that attaches to the ballhead clamp. Overall, I thought the combo was stable. I did notice some movement through the viewfinder when I was working with the 70-200 at 200mm when my hand was on the camera. Not a big deal for me as I usually use a cable release or timer when shooting with longer lens on a tripod. The combo seemed a little too light some times as when I was on a steep slope and hadn't adjusted the leg angles, it seemed like I could have easily knocked the tripod to the downhill side of the street. I did some shooting on a busy street in Chinatown and didn't feel too conspicuous with this tripod.

So overall, I'm pretty happy with this combo. I'm sure there are better tripods out there for more money, but this fits my current budget.

Feisol CT-3401 :$289
RRS BH-40 w/ LR clamp" $375

Canon 20D / Really Right Stuff Panoramic Head Lens Node

2010-10-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

June Lake

I've been shooting some panoramic pictures lately. I have a Really Right Stuff panoramic clamp on my tripod. Combine it with PTGui and stitching is a snap. As best as I can work out, here are the node slide setting I use for my Really Right Stuff panorama head combined with my Canon 20D and a couple lenses:

28mm lens: 10.2mm on the slide rail.
50mm lens: 11.8mm on the slide rail.
100mm lens: 9.8mm on the slide rail.

Yosemite, Mammoth and Tioga Pass

2010-10-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

El Capitan

I spent a few days in the Sierra Mountains this past week. I did a little shooting but not as much as I normally would do on a trip. This trip turned out to be more about just being out and a little reconnaissance for future outings. Yosemite Valley was definitely less crowded in the "shoulder season." They were closing many of the campgrounds outside the valley and closing many of the concessions in the valley. I was able to drive up to the ranger station at Tioga Pass and get a campsite at Crane Flat. I actually had a choice of campsites. I doubt I would have had the luxury in the Summer season.

The valley was much less crowded than Summer as well. I've been to Yosemite once before in the Winter and remember it being blissfully quiet. The weather was very pleasant and warm enough that I rode my bike with shorts and a t-shirt. The valley elevation is about 4,000 ft. The colors in the valley were not quite ready to change just yet. I also visited June Lake where the elevation is approximately 7,600 ft. The colors were maybe a week or two off from full peak. It was already spectacular there I can imagine being there in the full Fall colors. It was significantly cooler in the upper elevations.

I really enjoyed the Mammoth Lakes area. It was definitely dead there. Many of the restaurants were closed - their season is Summer and Winter. Not much going on any other time of the year. Hiking out at the Devil's Postpile was very pleasant. I'd also like to spend some time camping down there, not as much for the photography as for the fishing - I had some nice quiet moments watching trout in the rivers and lakes imagining casting a fly out...

At a Tioga Pass turn out overlooking the Tuolumne River

Tioga pass is awesome. It's just like being in Yosemite Valley looking up at El Capitan or looking out over the Grand Canyon. There's no sense of scale to put its grandeur in perspective and a picture really doesn't do it justice. Point Olmstead looks back out over toward Yosemite Valley and has lots of interesting rock/boulders. Coming down from the pass into Lee Vining is a very steep couple miles and the scenery is great. I pulled out a few times and got out just to take it all in. I'll definitely be returning the Tioga Pass to do some hiking/fishing/photography.

Fuji X100

2010-09-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

~~How F'ing cools is this?!!!~~ How lovely. I've been thinking about buying a Canon GIII QL17 (I still might...). I was thinking "Why doesn't Canon just put a nice large sensor into this thing?" Well, Fuji has beat them to it. I don't recall that last time I really rooted for a corporation/company, but I hope this camera kicks some major sales butt. It's about time we see something cool in the camera market. I suppose the ultimate question will be how responsive it is. If it's slow, I mean like any shutter lag, it'll be a failure. I don't think price will be the ultimate question because if it reacts very fast, people are going to buy this thing. It is already on my list of things to try and buy next year - I'm starting to save already.

Shadow

2010-08-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

Your Family and Friends Want to Buy Your Art

2010-07-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

I went on a printing / matting binge with the smoke images. I had stacks of matted prints laying around the office. I had recently listened to a podcast at Lenswork titled "What to do" (podcast #640) regarding a photographer that had stacks of images around the home and was wondering what to do with all the images. Brooks Jensen suggestion: Distribute it. Get it out there.

I decided to try and sell a few at the office.

I brought a few of the large prints to work as they are pretty eye-catching. It was nice to have people stop by and look and talk about the images. I received many compliments. It was a nice ego boost! I stacked some smaller prints near by. When people would stop and look at the larger prints, I would mention they were for sale and point at the smaller prints. Invariably, they would shuffle through the prints. The funny thing is, just because a few images were displayed, it doesn't mean they are for sale. People didn't ask. I had to tell them. It felt awkward to say "They are for sale." A few sold. As prints were now in other offices, it was like advertising. Word starting getting around without effort on my part and more people stopped by to look.

I let my coworkers know that I really appreciated their purchases and how important it was to me. It still feels a bit awkward and embarrassing to sell my prints, but my friends, family and a few others continue to demonstrate to me that they value and enjoy my work.

Smoke Prints

2010-07-10T10:57:00.000-07:00

What a week it has been.! I've been struggling at work with a project that involves many departments, people and pieces of equipment. We've had more than a couple failures that have required a lot of document revisions. Late yesterday we were able to push through and get two documents approved and in use. In addition, I sold 7 prints! I was tired. It was a good way to end the week.

A couple weeks ago, I took a week long vacation. We left home and just got out of our environment. It was a nice break from the routine. I decided to start a photo project during this time off. I had an idea for smoke images. I fooled around with this a while back after seeing some images on Flickr. Most of my previous edits had been in color and I wanted to work solely in black and white this time.

Shooting

Basically I shot with a couple of flashes against a black background. (To get the white background, the image is inverted.) To reduce noise in the background, I tried to keep as much light off the background as possible. I used some matboard taped to the flashes to control direction of light. I shot in manual using my cameras highest sync speed to reduce ambient light and aperture to conrol light from the flashes on the smoke. Flashes were triggered with radio syncs. The camera was on a tripod and I used a cable release. I shot out in my garage in the evening. I had a small light to provide a little ambient light so I wasn't stumbling around and a small flashlight to watch the smoke - it helped to anticipate when something interesting was about to happen.

Editing

The workflow was important in getting a consistent look across all images. The process of shooting and editing these images took a while to figure out. The thing that was interesting to me is how the editing process evolved several times in a short period. This was the first time I really used Lightroom to make some initial edits before bringing into Photoshop to perform the bulk of the editing process. All images were editing individually in Photoshop. I saved time in Photoshop by creating some actions to set up each image with all of the layers needed. After processing about half the images, I made a couple changes to the editing process. I went back and re-processed the first half. After finishing up all the images and making some initial prints, I went back and re-processed all images again to clean up some background noise issues.

Figure 1 below show a screen grab of one of the Levels layers which was used to whiten the whites and in some cases, blow out the whites. You can see how I've adjusted the levels to blow out background.

Figure 1

In Figure 2, I've added another Levels layer to help identifiy noise in the background. You can see how far over I've pulled the black tab and the resultant background noise. I cleaned up the noise the then hid or deleted the Levels 2 layer - It was really only meant to help with the editing proces.

Figure 2

Printing

I made a couple individual 10x15 prints from Photoshop, but my version of Photoshop doesn't automate print packages. I wanted to try and utilize the benefits on my printers roll paper and set up a couple of custom print packages in Lightroom. Luckily, Lightroom can use my custom B&W printer profile. One thing I don't care for in Lightroom print packages, is all the images in the set are the same. No way to print out differnt images in one print package. (There is a program called Qimage that is supposed to be really good for printing packages, but I've never tried it.)

Finishing

We have a Logan mat cutter. One thing I learned when production mat cutting is to make multiple cuts on the same stop. For example, when cutting 8x10 mats, make all the 10" cuts on your mats and your backing materials so the 10" sides on all materials are the same. Then adjust stop to 8" and then make all your 8" cuts on mats and backing materials. When you stack your mat against your backing, the outter dimensions should be very close. Before I figured this out, the dimensions of my mats and backing were just different enough to be annoying and I tossed many mats because it looked sloppy.

I matted these prints with a black core white mat. That black core really makes the images pop off. Not to brag or anything, but I think these images look great! This was a fun project.

http://www.earlharamaki.com/

Tripod

2010-04-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

I bought my tripod a couple years ago. It is a Giottos GB4180 tripod with a Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead. The legs were something like $120 and the ballhead with the panning clamp is $575. So I have a good chunck of change in my tripod. The legs are aluminum. The overall length of the tripod when closed down is about 32" so it's not a compact tripod by any means. Extends to about 66". My bathroom scale tells me that this combo weighs about 9 pounds. The tripod came with a nice storage bag which is too bulky to hike with. It also came with a sling style carrying strap for the tripod which does make hiking longer distances easier. Most of my pictures involve hiking around a bit, walking through street. Carrying this big thing is a bit of a hassle. In the Winter, the aluminum gets very cold, too cold to carry with bare hands.

For reference, I'm about 5'10. In the picture below I have the legs fully extended. With a camera on top, I can't see through the viewfinder without getting up on tip toes. At first it was nice to take pictures from tripod without having to hunch over. Over time, I've found most of the pictures I like are made with the tripod very close to the subject or to the ground so a tripod that exteneded to this height was unneccessary.

I will probably sell this tripod and ballhead. I bought this combo after reading a tripod article by Thom Hogan on the Really Right Stuff website. I thought this would be "the one" tripod. I don't think I agree with his conclusions. I think any tripod is better than no tripod and the tripod you're willing to carry around will be used more than a very nice tripod that you find a hassle to carry. After much use, I realize that it doesn't really fit my needs. I want something shorter, lighter, easier to carry.

Mirror Lock Up

2009-10-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

Mirror lock up reduces any shaking that might come from mirror slap (Ask a Pentax 67 user about mirror slap...). When I shoot with my 70-200mm, I try to use a tripod whenever I can. A tripod pretty much eliminates camera shake in my images that might have come from hand holding and it gives me more flexibility in post processing (bracketing exposure for stacking in post-processing, or bracketing focus). Tripod use implies I'm not in a hurry and as such, I might as well be using mirror lock up. It would be nice if my camera had a button to engage mirror lock up, or at least a button that was programmable to do this, but it does not.

I have found a pretty quick work around. It looks like this will work on Canon 5D MkII, 7D and 50D. These cameras have custom modes that you can set up on the exposure mode dial. In the case of the Canon 5D MkII and 7D, there are three selections you can set up. The 50D has two. I have C1 set up to shoot RAW, black and white, ISO 100 at f5.6. I have C2 set up to shoot RAW, black and white, ISO 2000 at f2.8. I have C3 set up to shoot RAW, color, ISO 100, F8.0, and mirror lock up engaged.

Figure 1 - Exposure dial Canon 5D MkII

It's pretty simple to set up actually. Set up your camera like you're going to shoot and choose the parameters you most like to use. Make sure to engage mirror lock up through the menu. Somewhere in the menu is something like "camera user setting". Choose that then choose "Register". Next choose "Mode dial :C1", "Mode dial :C2"or "Mode dial :C3". The condition the camera is in when you register settings is how the C selections will register. Voila! Set up is done. If your had mirror lock up engaged when you registered user settings, you can simply select your C selection on the exposure mode dial and you're ready to shoot with mirror lock up!

Alchemy

2009-10-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

I've listened to "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho a couple of times. I really enjoy the story. Of course, the book can be taken on many levels. On a literal level, alchemy can be taken for the pursuit of the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life. The process of creating the Philosopher's Stone is a process of purification. I suppose for me, photography is about the process. It's ongoing, never static. Things change. I change.

417

2009-10-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

Step Wedge

2009-10-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

The easy way to create a step wedge (I can do this in under a minute...)

Create a new photoshop document. I chose to create 8" wide by 1" tall. I chose 16 bit and 300 dpi for print resolution. (If you normally work in 8 bit, select 8 bit.) I chose 300 dpi as I usually print around that resolution. Color mode is RGB and background color is left white.
Select the gradient tool from the tool box. Edit the type of gradient. From the pull down select "foreground to background." To the left of the pull down tab select "linear gradient."
At the very bottom of the tool box are your foreground and background colors. Make sure they are white and black. My foreground is set to black. My background is set to white. With your gradient tool selected, place your cursor at the edge of the image, hold down shift, left click and hold, draft a line to the other edge of the image, release left click then shift. You should have a nice gradient across the image. The gradient tool is set to "foreground to background" and my foreground is black, background white. As I've dragged my cursor left to right, the gradient goes black to white. Get it?
Select Image>Adjustments>Posterize from the top menu. Enter "21" in the levels box and hit enter. You should now have a 21-step wedge. (You can select any number of levels you want, but 21 steps is works well for profiling and 8" will allow you to print many iterations of step wedges on a single sheet of letter sized paper.)
I save the filed in .PSD format. Do not convert, assign or embed any profiles

You'll notice that the steps are not equal in size. I'll discuss how to make a more "pretty" step wedge in another post.

Figure 1 - 21 Step Wedge

Simplification - One Printer Down

2009-10-18T21:53:00.000-07:00

I gave the Epson 2000P away today. I put a "free" ad up on Craigslist and a art teacher wanted it. I also gave him stacks of Inkpress warmtone paper, my refillable ink cartridges for that printer and one of the inksets I was working with. I don't feel bad giving the stuff away - it went to a good cause and it's out of my hair. I think he's going to have a interesting time trying to figure it all out. They only teach traditional darkroom (which I think is totally cool) so his skill set is really limited to film. He was bombarding me with all kinds of questions. I wasn't trying to be obtuse, but I tried to tell him there were many ways to get to where he wanted to go. Kids are quite tech savvy and I'm sure they will be able to put it all together. So in one fell swoop I simplified my workspace a bit.

I've had quite a collection of inkjet printers going for a while. I have a couple more to decide what to do with. I've got the 2200 with UT-3D working fairly well. It took me a weekend to get a decent curve with Ilford Gold Fibre Silk, but I'm fairly happy with the prints. I've decided to go the glossy paper route for a while. I've also tried the Harmon fiber AL warmtone glossy. I'm really liking this paper. One thing I don't like about the 2200 it that is leaves pizza wheel marks on the glossy prints. I'll have to sort that out. I have to say, in general, my inkjet prints are more expressive than anything I could have produced in the darkroom. The glossy fiber papers and the UT-3D inkset are working out well. I still like the idea of shooting film, but it may be time to sell off the darkroom equipment.

I'm leaning to porting the UT-3D inkset to the Epson 4000. Pizza wheel mark problem will be solved - the 4000 uses a vacuum feature to hold paper in place. I can print larger prints (although my most common size is 6x9). The printer has both matte and glossy black ink installed so no need to swap cartridges - this is a very nice feature. I'll be able to work out curves for a couple matte papers and a couple gloss papers. Also can utilize roll papers. If I port the UT-3D to the 4000, I can get rid of the 2200 as well and be one more printer down.

I still have an Epson R220. I would probably put color inks back in that printer and use it for normal desktop stuff as well as small color photos. I figure if I ever wanted to print a large color image, I would just source it out.

New Cameras

2009-09-06T22:46:00.000-07:00

All over the place. Totally looking forward to some reviews on the new Panasonic DMC-GF1

I understand that camera development is market driven, but it's about time someone came up with a camera like this. I just wonder if Canon and Nikon are going to get into the fray or wuss out and stay on the sidelines. I'd love for Canon to make a digital Canonet.

Totally loving this new Panasonic.

Clay Enos

2009-07-31T16:41:00.000-07:00

Totally cool clip from Wired magazine. It seems the older I get, the less I like to interact with strangers. I totally need to pluck up my courage and give this a go. The image of the girl with her hair blowing up behind her rocks.

Audio Tools

2009-07-30T00:03:00.000-07:00

Winamp is pretty cool.

I've been using winamp as my main player for a while. I've found a cool plugin called Streamripper that allows you to rip streaming audio. For example, I like to listen to KMHD on Friday nights as they have an awesome blues program. I stream their mp3 stream with winamp, start streamripper and the audio file lands on my desktop for later playback. Sweet. What I recently found is that winamp supports FLAC, "free lossless audio codec." You can rip your CDs to your computer without degradation like mp3. I'm starting to archive my CDs. I plan on making a trip to the local used music store to sell off some CDs.

Class Dismissed!

2009-07-29T22:20:00.000-07:00

Finished with my digital arts media class!

Giving up a Saturday to take a class was hard. I didn't realize how it really makes the weekend go fast. I'd much rather be up late during the week than give up another Saturday. I signed up for what sounds like an interesting class at Rayko in San Francisco later this year. It is a digital negative to Kallitype print class. I'm stoked. I've been wanting to learn more about digital negatives and kallitype. How nice to find a class to wrap up both subjects.

Self Portrait July 2009

2009-07-10T16:28:00.000-07:00

Olympus EP-1

2009-06-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

My first digital camera was an Olympus. It was the C-3000 zoom. Focusing was slow. File writing was slow. It had a cool infrared wireless remote. I loved that camera. I "made do" with that camera and it was fun. I shoot mostly with Canon now, but the new EP-1 is just so cool. Maybe it's time to sell off some unused equipment and take another look at Olympus.

I think Panasonic kind of blew it with their introduction of their micro 4/3 camera. They kept the SLR-type body even though they didn't need to, which is disappointing as Panasonic has some pretty innovative/interesting point and shoot cameras. Olympus' first attempt is very cool. I think they are going to sell a lot of these.

Sweet, retro-influence with the external viewfinder.

I'm in a waiting mode though. I have to watch the money these days and another camera would not sit well with the spouse. It sounds like there are plans for another Olympus micro 4/3 camera with a viewfinder. The second generation of anything is always much better than the first. And, here's a toally cool rendering of a Panasonic concept. I think (hope) that when Olympus sells buckets of the EP-1, other camera manufacturers take notice and come up with similar offerings.

The Benefits of Education

2009-06-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

I've enrolled in Junior College. Like many, I'm contemplating a career change. I love photography but I'm thinking more about graphic/web/print design. So I'm taking a "Digital Imaging" class to see if my interest leads anywhere.

The class is on Saturdays from 0900-1525. I was surprised at how well equipped the lab was. There was probably 25 Mac G5 computers, an Epson 4xxx series printer, an Epson 9xxx series printer and a couple flatbed scanners.

I really only use Photoshop for photo editing. I've never really started a digital file from scratch to create something artistic. Our first in class assignment was to create some abstract images utilizing complementary colors and and "triad" of colors. It was difficult for me. Even my abstracts look like landscapes. So one thing I'm working on is just playing more with the Photoshop interface and just doodling. I'm getting pretty good at making watercolor wash-like gradients.

On the web advisor for the JC, I noticed a link to student software. The site had Adobe Creative Suite Premium as well as Adobe Lightroom. I looked up the price on Adobe and the two together were almost $2,100. I got them both through the student software store for a grand total of $462... My class cost me $32. The book is $30. That's some crazy savings for taking a class that will put me further along a second career.

Getting ready for a show

2009-05-29T18:49:00.001-07:00

My company is having an employee art show from June through the end of July. I'm submitting four prints.

The end in mind.

I started with what I wanted the hung images to look like. I was trying to balance the cost of materials and artistic expression. As we are also having to sign a "will not hold responsible" clause, I decided to not spend a lot of money on framing materials, particularly if my company would not cough up some dough in the event that some art is damaged. I wanted to hang 16"x20" images. I really like museum glass, but decided to skip it for this show. At ~$40 for a 16"x20" sheet, it adds up quick. I used to like wood frames but have I switched to Dick Blick Gallery Metal Frames. They are inexpensive, durable and it's easy to recycle them for other shows or switch out images around the house if/when you want a change. Add museum glass and I think they look fantastic. With matte prints, it almost looks like there's no glazing. (One of my friends tried to touch a print to see if there was glass.) I printed B&W images on Lexjet Premium Archival Matte with my Epson 4000 and MISPRO inks utilizing Quad Tone RIP. As QTR doesn't come with Lexjet profiles, I used the Ultrachome and Epson Enhanced Matte profiles, linearized them and made a few test prints to get the tones right. The image sizes are about 11"x17" on final paper size of 16"x20". I made creative frames / borders using paint and ink on paper and scanned them into photoshop. Prints are backed by acid-free foam board and placed in frame without mat. The image frame / border takes the place of the mat in terms of a visual window. The lack of a mat gives a very clean appearance in my opinion, not to mention that it saved a lot of time in framing up the prints.

Framed print ready to hang.

I had actually been planning for this show for a while. I've been attempting to get my printing work flow with an Epson 2200 and UT-3D inkset in place prior to making prints for the show. I wanted to print on glossy paper. I still have not been able to adjust photoshop curves in a way that gives me satisfactory control over print tone. It's amazing what necessity drives us to do. After fooling around with the 2200 for 2 weeks, I had a short amount of time to put together framed prints. Thus, the 2200 was abandoned (for now) and prints were made on the 4000 with QTR.

A lack of organization

I've spent the last two weeks trying to get prints together. It's been an interesting experience. I have no cohesive portfolio of images and I haven't been using tags, keywords or ratings in any of my photo organization programs. It became quickly apparent that my submission was going to be made up of disparate images. I realized that I have to get some sort of management system in place. I've installed a couple different programs to handle this task; Bibble lite, Photoshop Elements album, Picasa and the Canon software that camer with the camera. I like Bibble, but Bibble lite doesn't support the 5DMkII. Bummer. They still have not come out with Bibble 5 for commercial release. (It was supposed to be out in January 2009, slackers.) Picasa is my favorite, but it can only export as jpeg. Photoshop elements (my old version) doesn't suport RAW. The Canon software just stinks. What to do? I'm actually taking a "digital arts media" class at a local JC this summer. As a student, this qualifies me to purchase the full version of Photoshop and Lightroom at a substantial savings. I'm hopefull that Lightroom will really help me catalog and sort my images and I can move to just one system and remove the other programs. I'll probably keep Picasa for quick edits and exports to Blogger.

Some conclusions

I need to settle on program to organize my photos and clear the rest off my computer. Along with this, I need to go back through all my old images and add tags, keywords and ratings to make searching more efficient. This jumping between programs to browse, develop and then edit is too much. Adobe pretty much has a strangle hold on this department. I think I'll be going with lightroom and photoshop in the future.
I need to get rid of the multiple printers and inksets. As much as I like the idea of a pure carbon inkset for longevity, I don't have the skill to manipulate the software in a way to control print tones to my satisfaction. I probably need to move closer to a ready made solution for black and white printing, at least in the mean time while I develop the necessary skills.

The Technological Barrier.

2009-05-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

Going Backwards
Two months ago, I bought a pack of Kentmere 5x7 glossy VC fiber paper. I printed in the darkroom for about a week. Oh how simple and easy it seemed to be to get a decent print. No lines. No pizza wheel tracks. No clogs. No funny colors. The paper itself is a joy to hold. The surface is perfect. The blacks shimmer. I haven't found the digital equivalent for this process yet.

Process
Only photographers care about process. We lecture each other at length at how we arrived at the final image. Everybody else just wants to see the print, the Flickr page. In a couple seconds, the image content moves them or it doesn't. Trudging all day out in rain? Five hours to make a print? Who cares - the content sucks. I've been thinking more about my process. Making color prints seems easy to me. I suppose I'm not so picky with the color. The black and white inkjet prints have been very unsatisfying. Part of the problem is technological, the other is concentration. I've been hung up on equipment. I couldn't quite find the right printer. R220 is too small. 2000P too slow. Now I'm working on the 2200. Then I had to find the right ink. Went through MIS UT-FSN, Paul Roark's carbon 6 and now using MIS UT-3D. Then all I could do was print a warm tone on cold paper - I didn't know how to adjust the photoshop curves to cool down the prints. At 2:00 am, I think I'm about to make a break through with working with the curves. I've achieved a fairly neutral print and a cool print. What I really needed was a block of time to concentrate on the curves process. I'm finally getting the hang of editing curves to control print tone with UT-3D.

A small sampling of test prints.

Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.
I currently have four inkjet printers. I have three different inksets. I probably have about eight different papers. I would like to have one printer, one inkset, one paper. The path forward is very clear when you only have one choice (That really isn't a choice, is it? Simple. No choices, nothing to think about, just doing.) My studio has become an inkjet printer workshop. I spend more time fooling around with printers, syringes and ink and clearing clogs than I do taking, editing or printing photographs. The prints I make consist of step wedges and a standard test print. So, most of the printers need to go. Most of the papers need to go. The various inksets need to go. I think the idea printer is the 13". The 17" is nice, but I rarely make prints that large and I'm unwilling to change the 17" to a dedicated black and white printer until I'm totally comfortable with editing curves. Switching over the 17" is no small feat.

What to do
Chuck it all. Fooling around with all this equipment is laborius. I need to go out and shoot some photos...

New (Old) Printer

2009-04-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

I've picked up a used Epson 2200 off of Craiglist. I'm slowly putting together materials needed to try out this printer for B&W. I have the printer and 2 sets of refillable cartridges with auto-reset chips (off of Ebay). The only thing I'm waiting for now is ink, which should arrive this Friday, just in time for plenty of weekend experimentation.

Just Do It

2009-03-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to increase the amount I read. I read 18 books last year, none of them photography books. I decided to read more about photography this year. I've come to the conclusion that all this does is cause me to think about the things I'm interested in rather than actually doing them.

"If I only had a ______ I could _______."

Fill in the blanks with your excuses, then crush them. There is no magic bullet. The camera you have is probably good enough. (I really don't need a new 21 megapixel SLR or a new printer...but that 50mm f1.2, I need that....)

"Psychologists have attempted to explain the creative process in four stages: preparation, incubation, realisation and verification. In the first we attune ourselves to our subject and notice the possibility for an image; in the second we find a solution to the divergent problem of composition; in the third we make the image; and, finally, in the fourth verify that it met (or exceeded!) or aims. It’s vital that we delay pressing the shutter as long as possible if we want to make anything other than a pastiche of former images. We therefore need to take as long as we dare over the first two stages – obviously a fast moving subject or set of circumstance would curtail this."

- David Ward

http://www.lightandland.co.uk/
http://www.into-the-light.com/

Tmax100 + HC-110

2009-02-24T19:33:00.000-08:00

We've finished up remodeling the bathroom. This has given me a chance to set up the enlarger in the second bathroom.

I had a bunch of film (35mm) to develop and now I get to print some. At the current moment, as I write, I'm developing Ilford HP5+ in Kodak HC-110 trying to determine a development time.

When prepping 400ml (for one roll in tank) I use 6ml HC-110 and fill beaker to 400ml.
When prepping 700ml (for two rolls in tank) I use 11ml and fill beaker to 700ml.

I've settled on the following for Tmax 100 in HC-110 dilution H (1:63)
12 minutes @ 20C.
Continuous agitation for 1st minute.
5 inversions every minute thereafter.

I'm happy with the results.

Epson R220 and MIS UT-3D

2009-02-05T12:50:00.000-08:00

I've been printing with an Epson R220 and the MIS UT-3D inkset. Prints on Ilford Gold Fibre Silk paper are beautiful. The blaks are very deep. The prints have been turing out very nicely. It still requires some experimentation but this combo of printer, ink and paper is very nice.

I still haven't found the combo of ink and printer that I'm looking for. I like the quality I get from the R220, but being limited to a letter-size printer is frustrating. I've been hunting around for an Epson 1400. This seems like it might be the best solution right now. I can print most of the image sizes I'm interested on a printer this size. 12"x18" image size on 13"x19" paper looks lovely. And framed in an 18"x24" frame looks spectacular. If I become successful at selling prints, I'll look into a solution for a larger printer - everyone has a 13" printer. Making prints larger than 13"x19" starts to separate you from the rest of the crowd.

Prints for sale

2009-02-05T12:48:00.000-08:00

I have a few prints for sale on my photoblog:

www.thedailyarchive.com

Carbon-6 Inkset

2009-01-18T22:17:00.000-08:00

In my experiments with the Epson 2000P printer, I used the Carbon-6 inkset developed by Paul Roark. Bascially, it is a dilution made from the MIS Eboni ink. It is meant for printing on matte paper only.

An ink base is made from safe and readily available components: water, glycerin and Kodak Photoflo. (Photoflo is a "wetting agent" - it breaks up the surface tension of water. It is used in the last rinse step when developing film. It helps water flow off the negatives and thus reduce streaks from water impurities, etc.)

The ink base and the Eboni ink are mixed in the following manner:
K position = 100% eboni
C position = 2 parts ink base, 1 part K position ink
M position = 1 part ink base, 1 part C position ink
Light C = 1 part ink base, 1 part M position ink
Light M = 1 part ink base, 1 part light C position ink
Yellow position = 1 part ink base, 1 part light M position ink.

Easy to mix by volume. I suppose if a printer had more than 6 ink positions, you could create further dilutions. I seemed to go through the yellow position ink quickly. I was wondering if it might be better to dilute the ink even more.

The tone of the print is dependent on a couple of factors: ink drop size (based on printer), the dilution of the ink and the paper used. I tried this ink with 2 printers, the Epson R220 and 2000P. The R220 prints with a smaller drop size. The same image printed warmer on the R220 than the 2000P. Large drop = neutral, small drop = warmth. Secondly, the dilution. As the eboni gets diluted, the ink warms up. It is visible in step wedges. The black is neutral but the midtones and highlights are warm. Thirdly, paper. One of Paul's paper recommedations is Premier Art Smooth. It is amazing how this paper prints neutral and Staples prints so warm. Both paper whites are bright white in color temperature. I'm sure both are brightened with optical brighteners. (Nice snappy highlights.)

As it is relatively inexpensive, I bought a large package of Staples Matte to experiment with. This paper produces a huge split tone with carbon-6 (7 L units in the LAB measurement with the syderprint). At first, I didn't like this. I wanted neutral prints. I had ordered some Premier Art Smooth based on Paul's recommendation. The Premier prints very neutral. I realized that I liked the split of the Staples. Lexjet Sunset Fibre Matte also printed with a split, slightly less than the Staples with a little more surface texture. There will be some experimentation to try and find a paper with the print qualities you're looking for if you try this inkset.

I like the simplicity of the carbon-6. It is not adjustable. There are no curves to apply toning. The only choice you have is the paper you use. I find this lack of choices liberating. Now if I can just convince myself to pull the colors out of the 4000, I'll be making nice B&W prints soon.

FYI - Staples matte is acid free, lignin-free, wood pulp based paper (based on phone calls with Staples customer service.)

Quad Tone Rip + Printfix Pro (spyderprint)

2009-01-18T21:45:00.000-08:00

I've pretty much given up on the Epson 2000P for black and white printing. The main reason is print speed: It is really slow. It's interesting to read back to earlier posts on the web for this printer. It was very expensive when it first came out. According to an article on Luminous Landscape, it retailed for $899. Ouch. I got it for a bargain at $30.

I plan to clean out the printer, clean out my refillable cartridges and put a nice add on Craigslist. It was a decent experiment and taught me a few things. I'll be happy to have more desk space.

I have had a running debate in my head whether or not to convert my Epson 4000 to a dedicated black and white printer. I've been fooling around with QuadTone RIP for about a week now. I have MISPRO inkset in the 4000 right now. I've been pretty happy with the inkset. Color images are a bit on the magenta side without a profile. Profiles made with Syderprint have straightened everything out. While there are work-arounds for not having a densitometer or spectrocolorimeter, the Syderprint has definitely made my life easier. It has been a great tool and I would buy it again and sooner had I known then what I know now.

Quad Tone Rip has allowed me to continue to use the full color inkset and print black and white images. The measurement tool of Spyderprint was very use in determining the ink limit of my printer and comparing between the matte black and light black inks. I remember getting frustrated fairly quickly the first time I tried QTR. I didn't have the tools to make the measurements needed to linearize the grayscale stepwedge . Syderprint solved my frustration.

The main thing I don't like about QTR is not being able to print directly from Photoshop. You have to save an image in TIFF format, close out of PS and open to print in QTR. I suppose no real biggie, but kind of cumbersome if you're trying to dial in your print. The second thing I don't really like about QTR is the lack of documentation. It comes with a user guide, but I was really dumb in the beginning and really didn't make much sense to me. It took a few readings, lots of fooling around with the interface and a healthy dose of patience.

If I do switch over the 4000 to a dedicated B&W printer, Syderprint and QTR will definitely be important tools to have.

1st print of 2009

2009-01-14T23:03:00.000-08:00

First print of 2009.

I've been working with Quad Tone Rip, Epson 2000P and the Carbon-6 inkset. I can honestly say that this combo has produced a nice looking print.

Late Nite Window Shopping

2008-12-24T10:19:00.000-08:00

I've grown accustomed to carrying a tripod around everywhere. It is a burden sometimes. A burden in my thinking about making images. "I can't possibly make a good image without a tripod." So I walked a bit the other night and made myself shoot freehand. Don't think just shoot.

Mastering Digital Black and White: A Photographer's Guide to High Quality Black-and-White Imaging and Printing

2008-12-19T08:17:00.000-08:00

By Amadou Diallo

Chapters:
Chapter 1 Image gallery
Chapter 2 Building the digital darkroom
Chapter 3 Color management for the Black-and-white photographer
Chapter 4 Digital capture
Chapter 5 Photoshop in black and white
Chapter 6 Black-and-white inkjet printing
Chapter 7 The imaging workflow
Chapter 8 The limited edition
Chapter 9 The portfolio

The book provides a decent overview of the differnet methods available today for printing black and white inkjet prints. Methods covered are using a standard color inkset as well as using non-OEM black and white inksets such as Jon Cone's Piezography and MIS Ultratone inksets. Major players Epson, Canon and HP are covered.

There is a very useful section on layer blend modes. I thought this was the best section of the book as I have never seen a Photoshop book clearly explain how the blend modes work. Diallo does a good job of explaining the blend modes with visual references. This section alone may be worth the price of the book.

The color management section goes over the tools for profiling monitor and printer, but that's about it. It doesn't really show you specifically how to do the steps as they apply to using a black and white inkset (neither does any of the hardware/software I use for that matter.) The reader is left to figure it out on their own. It's pretty much the same with the printing section. It goes over the print drivers that Canon, Epson and HP include with their printers. Nothing a user couldn't figure out from the OEM manual or online forum help. This book really isn't an instruction manual. At the end of it all, it's still trial and error for me. Nothing in this book helped me move away from that.

Unfortunately for the book, technology changes very quickly in the digital imaging world. This book is written specifically to certain manufacturers and product lines that will continue to change and as a result, many sections of this book will be out of date in a couple of years. (Somehow, I find this ironic. There are many "old" books written on film-based black and white photography that are still relevant and applicable...) I was expecting a book with more nuts and bolts on the aspect of black and white inkjet printing (as one might think from the title of the book.) I think a good book or two on Photoshop (or whatever your image editing software choice is) and a book or two on color management would be a better choice. Overall, I feel like the book tries to be too much. Instead of concentrating on the printing aspect, it covers many other topics as indicated by the index.

For the enthusiast who likes to read everything on the subject of their passion, I can suggest "High Quality Black-and-White Imaging and Printing" by Amadou Diallo.

Epson Stylus Photo 2000P

2008-08-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

Epson 2000P with roll paper attachment

I recycled my Epson 1280 in a fit of frustration a couple weeks ago. I wasted quite a bit of ink trying to clear a head clog and I was fed up. (In hindsight, I wish I would have kept the printer. I would have taken it apart and tried to fix it. I'm sure I would have learned a lot and who knows, I might have even fixed it.) As the 2000P is a similar form factor as the 1280 but uses pigment based ink, I decided I would try and hunt one down and experiment with a new inkset.

The Search

I searched the immediate San Francisco Bay Area listings on Craigslist for a 2000P. No luck. I placed an “items wanted” ad with one response directing me to Ebay. I didn't want to pay for shipping considering who knows what I would have gotten in the mail. I checked Craigslist again and worked my way out and found one in Turlock. Three hours of driving, one Sonic Toaster Combo, $50 and I had my 2000P. I even got the roll paper adapter, the original manual and the CD!

The Printer

The Epson Stylus Photo 2000P was introduced in 2000. That makes the print technology ancient. I couldn't really find any info regarding dot size. The printer has a 13” carriage. The printer has parallel port and USB connectivity. With the Epson driver prints up to 13” by 44” can be made. There is a roll paper adapter if you're luck enough to find one. There is no built in automatic cutter. There were many reports of problems with metamerism when the printer first came out. I'm installing a B&W inkset so I'm not really worried about this.

The Clean Up

Disclaimer: I'm sure I'm voiding some kind of warranty. If you choose to do this, it's at your own risk.

Purge print before cleaning

I printed a test print and the page was covered with random black marks. What did I expect anyway? I mean, after all the printer is 8 years old. There was plenty of gooey ink left on the rubber head wiper and supporting plastic mechanism. Armed with a dozen or so Q-Tips, paper towels and a bottle of Windex, I set to work cleaning up the insides. To get better access to the printer, I removed the cover which is held in place by 4 screws. Two are inside the cover in front and two in back outside the cover. Remove the paper feed support and lift off the cover. There is a small white lever below the print head carriage. Flick that down with a pencil or something else small and pointy.

Parking pad prior to cleaning

Move the print head carriage to the left out of the way. I sprayed liberal amounts of Windex on the rubber wiper and parking pad. I removed all of the ink goo from the wiper and supporting plastic structure. I then alternated between dabbing the parking pad with a paper towel and spraying with Windex until the parking pad was not black. At this point, I pulled out the Epson cartridges and put in my own with the carbon-6 inkset. It took a few test prints and a few head cleanings, but I got a good test print.

Printer in action. Don't let the blur fool you. This printer is slow.

Profiling, Printing and General Operation

Refillable, spongeless cartridges

The inkset I chose to work with is the carbon-6 inkset that Paul Roark developed and has been experimenting with. Essentially, the inkset is serial dilution of Eboni ink from MIS.

Black cartridge is filled with undiluted Eboni.

Cyan position is 50:50 Eboni:ink base

Light cyan position is 50:50 cyan position ink: ink base

Magenta position is 50:50 light cyan ink position: ink base

Light Magenta position is 50:50 magenta position ink: ink base

Yellow position is 50:50 light magenta position ink: ink base

I made my ink base by volume.

62% distilled water

28% glycerol

9.7% Kodak Photoflo

I got the glycerol from my local pharmacy and the Photoflo from a local camera shop (yes, they still sell darkroom supplies...) Yes, I know the percentages don't add up to 100% but I'm just working with what Paul has written up so far.

I have a 51-step wedge that I print and read to make up a printing profile. After printing the step wedge and allowing it to dry, I use a Datacolor Printfix pro to read the patches and create a .txt file. I use the RGB create ICC application from QTR to drop the .txt file on to to create a profile. This profile is then placed in the windows>system 32>spool>drivers>color folder. You can select the profile in Photoshop if the profile is placed in this location.

If you open the printer cover, the 2000P has a lever on the right side that adjusts the platen gap. This is useful for feeding in thicker media. Platen adjust gap lever

One thing I found out, is that it affects the sharpness of the print. My first prints were not coming out the way I thought they would – a little fuzzy here and there and banding every so often. I checked the lever and it was set to the maximum distance. I set the lever back down to the minimum setting and ran the head alignment utility. The prints have looked much better since then. It is better to run the head alignment utility with inkjet paper and not plain paper. There is less ink bleed with inkjet paper and it will allow you to see the printed lines more clearly.

There are 6 media setting to choose from: archival matte paper, premium semigloss photo paper, glossy paper – photo weight, plain paper, water color paper – radiant white and premium luster photo paper. Super microweave is only selectable on premium photo paper, glossy paper – photo weight and premium luster photo paper settings. High speed is available on all media settings. If speed is a concern, the 2000P is slooooow. I printed a 6”x9” print on letter size paper with high speed off and it took 11 minutes 33 seconds to print. I have been printing on with the high speed checked. Most of the time, I can't tell a difference in the print quality. So far, I've been happy with the 2000P. There have been way less head clogs than the 1280.

Subjective print quality

I've also been experimenting with the Epson R220 and the carbon-6 inkset. The 2000P cannot print nearly as smooth as the R220. For larger prints, I would say that the larger dot size probably doesn't make too much of a difference as you're viewing from further away, but on a letter sized print that you're holding up under your nose, the R220 is better. (Also, the R220 is way faster.) I have notice a little bit of banding in the midtone areas of the prints some times. I'm wondering if I incorporate the partitioning curves that Paul Roark has been working on, if it will help.

For images with lots of texture and granularity, the 2000P works fine. Any micro-banding is hidden in the texture of the image. For images with fine detail, I have not been able to get the 2000P to perform in a way that I couldn't see, with my unaided eye, that it was an inkjet print.

The carbon-6 inkset is pretty warm in general. I didn't think I would like it but I like the aggressive split on the staples matte. You can see in the following image the warmth of the inkset. The second image is black-only which is much colder.

Above full ink set print - warm tones

Above, black-only, much colder with too much grain

Lab chart showing warmth of print. Huge split on Staples matte

Papers

I tried a couple different papers with the 2000P & carbon-6 set up.

Inkpress rag warm tone Can you say uber warm? I was disappointed with this paper/ink/printer combination as this was my paper favorite with the 1280/UT-FSN combination. Perhaps if you were looking for a dedicated printer for sepia prints, this combo might work for you. Density was kind of weak at 1.5. I like the surface of this paper - just a slight texture. Double-sided paper is economical for working out process or proofing. (While I was really rooting for the inkpress papers, they just don't seem to work with my process at the moment.)

Inkpress rag cool tone The density I got with this paper/ink/printer combination was 1.5. Kind of dismal. I really liked the surface texture of this paper. Double-sided.

Staples photo supreme double-sided matte The LAB b goes from paper white LAB b of -3 to mid tone LAB b of about 4. This paper has a huge split. Density was 1.7. The surface of this paper is very smooth. The paper is fairly cheap and for me, makes a good proofing paper. Double-sided. I have to admit, that I'm liking this paper more and more, even with the large split tone. After a few calls to Staples support, I was told that the paper is lignin and acid free and is a pulp based paper.

Lexjet sunset fiber matte The split is not as dramatic as the Staples paper, but there is a change of about 5 LAB b units. Density was 1.7. The paper color is a bit warmer than the Staples. This has more surface texture than the Staples but less than the Inkpress. Single-sided. I like this paper as well.

http://www.premierart.info/pm_smoothbwfineart.php">Premier Art Smooth bright white No split. The color is very neutral. I thought I would like a neutral print, but I have to say, it is not my favorite at this point. Density was 1.7. Surface texture is very smooth. Single-sided.

As of this writing, the only two papers I am using are the Staples matte and the Lexjet Fiber matte. I've really come to like the warm split these papers produce.

Addendum

I've been printing with the 2000P with the carbon-6 inkset for a couple month now. In general, there have been MANY less head clogs than with the Epson 1280. I've had one bit of frustration over the last 2 weeks though. The yellow channel dropped out. I ran more than a few nozzle checks and head cleanings with no success. What happened was the vent on top of the cartridge got some ink in it and was preventing ink from being able to be drawn down into the head. (I just emptied the cartridge and put some water down the vent with a blunt syringe to clean out.) Looking back, the easier solution would have been to make sure I had a couple cartridges loaded with the inkset prior and just swapped out the troublesome cartridge. Also, I'll be pulling some ink from the bottom poppet valves to prime the cartridges from now on, something I haven't been doing.

I've run a few head alignments since I first started with this printer. I get some banding occasionally, and I haven't figured out if it's due to the setting or if it's due to the ink / paper combinations. I think it requires further exploration of an image with super fine detail to see if the printer will hold up.

Resources

www.inkpresspaper.com

Epson Stylus Photo 1280

2008-08-03T08:58:00.000-07:00

The Epson Stylus Photo 1280 is a discontinued model. The printer utilizes 2 inkjet cartridges, the T007 and T009 which can still be purchased at any office supply store and online from Epson. The inkset is dye-based. The printer has a 13" carriage, meaning that is can print paper 13" and up to 44" long with the Epson driver. If you can find one with all the original parts, the printer comes with a roll paper adapter (no cutter.) Generally, my favorite paper sizes are 8.5"X11" and 11"x14" so the 13" carriage is ideal. I can print a larger 13"x19" if I have an image that really calls for a larger print.

I found my 1280 on Craigslist a couple years ago for $30. Quite a bargain considering the original price was around $500. (Not to blow smoke, but Craigslist is an excellent place to find a used printer. Sometimes people get printers as part of a computer package for "free" and they sell the printer cheaply. This is a great place to get a printer for not a lot of dough to experiment with.) I purchased a few spongeless refillable cartridges, a chip resetter and the MISPRO inkset from MIS. (Due to an Epson lawsuit, MIS, and other US companies, no longer sell spongeless refillable cartridges. I have been able to buy these kinds of cartridges off of Ebay.) I eventually dedicated the 1280 to black & white printing and switched to the ultra tone (UT-FSN) black & white inkset.

One thing that needs to be noted is that Epson strongly discourages the use of non-Epson inks in their printers. I have not read the fine print but I would wager that by using 3rd party inks, I am voiding some kind of warranty. This should be taken into consideration if you plan on purchasing a new printer that has a warranty or an expensive printer where the cost due to possible damage may outweight the cost savings of using 3rd party inks.

One of the first things I noticed were the head clogs. It generally took me a couple head cleanings every printing session to get a good nozzle check print. Printing sessions were infrequent which didn't help. Also, my computer is upstairs in the house and during the summer months it can get pretty hot during the day. While I haven't done any experiments, I have a feeling that the high temperatures can dry out the print head and lead to clogs. Another theory is that the Epson inks are dye based with smaller particles and the pigments based ink particles are larger and can clog the head. Based on the information on the MIS website, the size of the pigment particles is not an issue with the 1280.

The UT-FSN inkset is a carbon based pigment set that has four shades of black to it. The "color" of inks are black (K), cyan (C), magenta (M) and yellow (Y). The black can either be the "photo black" which can be used on glossy papers or the "eboni" which is recommended for matte papers. I chose to use the eboni and print on matte paper. It took me a few tries to find a matte paper that I liked. One lesson learned is to buy sample packs of paper if they are available. This helps reduce costs if you end up not liking the paper for some reason (I have given away lots of paper and trashed others that I would consider fire starter.)

The refillable cartridges have small plugs that are removed to fill the chambers. This is best done with a syringe and blunt needle. I arranged the inkset in the recommended order per the MIS website. The order of the inks is CMCMY. Looking at the image to the left, you can see the chips on each cartridge. On these particular cartridges, the whole yellow piece slides off making it easier to replace the chips if you need to. Cartridge design from other suppliers may vary.

The chip resetter is used to reset these chips each time you fill up the cartridges so the print driver will indicate the approximate ink levels in the cartridges. The print driver may tell you that you have a "foreign" cartridge and "Do you wish to continue?" each time you reset and install the cartridges. As you can see from the picture of the cartridges and the chip resetter, the contacts and pins on the resetter are in the same pattern. When the resetter is properly held against the chip contacts, it blinks red a couple times and then green to indicate the resetting operation was successful. If you don't ever get the green, it means something is wrong with your chip and more than likely needs to be replaced. Auto reset chips are available that will automatically reset at some ink level by turning off the printer or removing power to the printer. This way, you can just pull out the plugs and refill the cartridges without removing the cartridge from the printer. I haven't used them so I don't know exactly how they work.

Looking left to right on the T009 cartridge, the color order is cyan, light cyan, magenta, light magenta and yellow. The cartridge is filled with the "cyan" ink in the cyan and magenta positions of the cartridge. The light cyan and light magenta positions are filled with the "magenta" ink and the yellow position is filled with the "yellow" ink. (Again, CMCMY positions.) I filled the T007 cartridge (smaller cart) with eboni. This gives the four shades of black to work with.

I made a 51-step wedge to linearize my prints. (More on how to create your own step wedge in another post.) I use a Datacolor Printfix Pro to read the patches and QTR to create an ICC profile. My favorite paper with this combination was Inkpress Rag Warm Tone 300. This is a cotton rag paper, no brighteners, 300 gsm, 15 mil paper. It is a very heavy paper. There isn't much flaking but I have had a few prints with white spots. I use a drafters brush to wipe away any flakes before loading the printer. In letter size, it needs a little "help" to get it to feed into the printer. (The 1280 has a lever to adjust platen for thicker papers.) The combination of the neutral ink and the warm paper gave a slightly warm print that was lovely.

The reason I chose a matte paper was due to part of the ejection system of the 1280. There are small gear-like wheels that grab the paper and push the print out when printing is done. If you look closely at the surface of the print, you'll see marks on the surface of the print - especially glossy prints. There are methods (here and here) for removing the pizza wheels, but I never tried them. Honestly, I found that the matte paper looks very nice behind glass when framed. You don't have to deal with the reflection off of the print and the glass which can be annoying if you're lighting on the frame is not right. As well, a couple years ago, the dmax of matte papers was much darker than that of the glossy papers. There were no fancy fiber-based glossy papers available, only resin-based glossy.

At times, the 1280 truly frustrated me with head clogging and banding in the prints. At other times, the 1280 with the UT-FSN inkset made awesome prints. I have only had one 1280. I've read accounts of people having no clog problems and other's having worse experiences than myself. I'm currently experimenting with an Epson R220 and an ancient Epson Sylus Photo 2000P. With my preliminary results so far, I'm wishing for another 1280 and UT-FSN inkset.

Last weekend, I took my 1280 to the electronics recycler. I'm regretting that decision. I wish I would have kept the printer and tried to fix it myself. I had nothing to lose as the printer is now in some junk heap. It could have been no worse off after my attempts to repair and could have ended up functioning well again. Who knows?

I don't have any affiliation with any of the above manufacturers and/or products. This really is a "journey" and as there are no 1st party manufacturers of a dedicated black & white inkjet printer, those of us who want one have to turn to 3rd party solutions.

Online resources listed in this post:
www.craigslist.org - online classified ads.
www.inksupply.com - suppliers of bulk ink and other inkjet supplies.
www.inkpresspaper.com - Inkjet paper manufacturer of fairly inexpensive papers.
www.datacolor.com - Manufacturer of color management equipment.
www.epson.com - Manufacturer of inkjet printers.
www.ebay.com - online auction - source of refillable inkjet cartridges.

The Journey Begins

2008-08-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

I recycled my printer last weekend. I'm realizing that that was a mistake. In one moment of head-clog frustration, I tossed my printer. So, I am beginning the journey to find a new B&W inkjet-based workflow. I'll do my best to document materials and equipment as I try and sort out a new inkjet-based method of printing B&W photos.

Coming from a short darkroom background, my first attempts at black and white inkjet printing were very disappointing. I can remember the first experiences of pressing "control+p" and having the printer spit out a lime green "black and white" photo. I went back into the darkroom...

Inkjet technology and inksets have gotten much better in the last few years. There are very good "out of the box" solutions right now for printers who want to do both black and white as well as color. Printers are much faster and are capable of high quality prints that, in my opinion, look better than any chemical print I ever got from a photo lab. Print drivers are offering more flexibility in print options. Better and more interesting papers are available. Technology wise, It's a good time in the photo world.

While there are many ~~expensive~~ good out of the box solutions, the effort here will be looking at older printers and 3rd party inks to find a somewhat inexpensive solution.