Use Master quad for negatives for silver gelatin? PiezoProDN Epson 9900

PiezoDN Digital Negatives
1

I can’t find a quad for silver printing, should I use the master quad?

2

yes, you will need to tune it darker to start with (aka more translucent).

Use 00 filter to start as well!!

best
-Walker

3

00 filter? I’ve already printed (negative) the 129 target. I also printed an image with a full range of tones but curved it in PS to 25-225 (not 0-255) just to see how it would print on silver, I have not done the silver prints yet. Are the negs I already produced just a waste of time?

4

I never got an answer to what you meant by 00 filters.

5

using the 00 filter minimizes grain.

-Walker

6

Thanks Walker, but what I’m asking where is the 00 filter? On what app, and where in that app? Are we talking film grain or printer pixel grain? Also I am seeing very fine and soft lines on the negative that travel in the direction of the moving print head but the head itself is nozzle checked before every print/negative. The lines are barely perceptible and do not resemble the more obvious effects of a clogged nozzle. You have to look closely and very critically to see them.

I’m printing 720ppi images at 2880 Uni, narrow gap, thickness pattern1, paper speed -10 (I used the printer settings that you recommended in another thread.

What’s the best way to get the cleanest look, that is not artifacts like those lines, in even middle tones? Should I slow paper speed more? A different thickness pattern? Thanks

7

When I say 00 filter I mean print in the darkroom with a 00 filter. Print the target on muligrade paper with a 00 filter. Calibrate for 00. Then print the images with 00. As long as your exposures are always = and you minimize grain (aka 00 filter) you should have no changes at darkroom time. Everything happens upstream in the neg.

Sorry, I assumed you understood what I meant by 00 filter (aka multigrade darkroom printing).

-Walker

8

Got it. I thought you might have been talking about that but with all the talk everyone has about how once everything is linearized it’s all about a curve I thought it was an app setting I was missing. The thing with the 00 filter means that the high contrast emulsion in multigrade is not really being used. I’ve never attempted to get a max black with OO grade filters, I always did split contrast printing where you use 00 and 5 and tweak your contrast and dodging and burning for each contrast level.

As for the fine lines I’m seeing what do I do about those?