Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/06/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I've just gotten the first Quadtone inkjet prints out of my Epson 3000. I'm very encouraged. The Quadtone inks (4 shades of black) and the paper are from MIS Supply. this is the same stuff that George DeWolfe wrote up in the last Camera Arts magazine. These inks are inserted into the printer in place of the cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks. The black is replaced with black the other three colors are replaced with 3 shades of gray (or shades of black - just depends on how you think about it). http://www.missupply.com/store.cgi (Look for the "Quadtone" link at the bottom of the page.) They have the supplies listed and information about how to do it. I understand they are currently updating the black inks and they may not be shipping the new ones for a couple of weeks. I've tried their Somerset Velvet watercolor paper and I'm not too impressed. Its not coated for the inkjet and it is a bit mushy looking although I like the whiteness of this paper. Blacks are not very black - yuck! The Concord Rag paper they sell is much better so far. On first try with almost no manipulation of the file I got very close results to the monitor. I tweaked the printer driver a bit and the second try is really, really good. This paper has a nice warm tone that seems to mesh well with the slightly cool inks. Surface texture is fairly smooth, its a 100% cotton rag paper, and is supposed to be undergoing final testing at Wilhelm for its archival quality. The pictures are scanned from XP2 Super 35mm (some Leica - on topic now). I used the Polaroid SprintScan Plus to scan then at 300ppi. Then digital darkroom work with retouching, tonal adjustment, burning, dodging etc., happening in the computer. I find XP2 Super to be a wonderful film in terms of smoothness of tones and it has adequate sharpness. No, not to test lenses - to make pictures. Its very good in 35 and GREAT in 6X6. And its easy to expose (maybe the widest exposure lattitude I know of) and most importantly for me it gives the most scannable negative I could want - low enough contrast with large amounts of detail that I can subsequently work with in PhotoShop. Henry Ambrose