PDN - initial calibration

[Michael Slade]

Alright, here's where I'm at as of tonight.

I printed out the Color Density Test last night and did a Kallitype
print today. I'm not seeing the change in density in the test print
I did that I was anticipating. I printed in conjunction with the 31-
step tablet on top of the Pictorico film.

The only changes I'm seeing in fact, are there is less bleed on the
left side than the right side.

You can see the image here:

http://tawayama.com/PDNtests/colordensitytest1.jpg

The 31-step tablet looks really good to me, showing nearly a 2.1 DR
of the Kallitype formula I'm using.

BTW, I mixed the chemistry up from scratch today before printing, so
I know it was fresh. I am coating with a rod, but the test prints I
made look a bit sloppy on the coating side (blush).

My Color Density Range Palette printed out very light. I am printing
on an Epson 4000, Pictorico OHP with Epson UltraChrome ink. No color
management, 2800 ppi, Glossy Paper settings, etc. I thought that
there was no way the colors were going to hold back the light, but
tried it anyway.

http://tawayama.com/PDNtests/PEPprintedonpictorico1.jpg

Does that look like the correct density for the color squares? I
thought I was following the instructions properly, but it seems that
there's no color that holds back the light at all.

Any suggestions would be great.

Just for the heck of it I printed the Printer Evaluation page, just
the black end, as a Kallitype. I'm really very happy with the
alignment of my printer, as I can see the 1-pixel lines and
checkerboard even with the paper fiber.

http://tawayama.com/PDNtests/PEPprintedasVDtest.jpg

I've printed Kallitypes before, so I may cheat and make some all-inks
(i.e. black) negatives to see how they print. I seem to be able to
get a very smooth black gradient and it shows plenty of density to be
able to hold the whites/highlights.

I know I'm not supposed to 'fudge', but I'm just a bit excited to try
it and see what it'll do.

Anyway, just had a few questions and thought I'd post 'em here.

Thanks,

[sanking]

My Color Density Range Palette printed out very light. I am printing
on an Epson 4000, Pictorico OHP with Epson UltraChrome ink. No color
management, 2800 ppi, Glossy Paper settings, etc. I thought that
there was no way the colors were going to hold back the light, but
tried it anyway.

http://tawayama.com/PDNtests/PEPprintedonpictorico1.jpg

Does that look like the correct density for the color squares? I
thought I was following the instructions properly, but it seems that
there's no color that holds back the light at all.

Thanks,

The color density range palette is definitely too light, much too light in fact. You should be getting a lot more density than that with the Epson UltraChrome inks. I sure get a lot more with the Epson 2200. Check all your printer settings again and try again. Look at the entire sequence of operations in PDN.

Sandy

[donbga]

Michael,

Alright, here's where I'm at as of tonight.

I printed out the Color Density Test last night and did a Kallitype
print today. I'm not seeing the change in density in the test print
I did that I was anticipating. I printed in conjunction with the 31-
step tablet on top of the Pictorico film.

The only changes I'm seeing in fact, are there is less bleed on the
left side than the right side.

You can see the image here:

http://tawayama.com/PDNtests/colordensitytest1.jpg

The first thing I would ask is have you established your Standard Printing Exposure Time as Mark describes?

You should definitely have some white patches in print of the Color Density Range palette in the G255R0-255 or G255-B0-255 strips, if you have exposed at the SPT. It usually takes me a few iterations (2 or 3) to arrive at the correct SPT. Using the lapped method Mark describes allows you to discern the proper exposure a bit easier than without it. For me learning how to get the SPT was a bit difficult because I kept printing to dark.

Looking at your scan though leads me to think something else is amiss, though I can't suggest what that might be right off hand.

Your step 1 density under the transparency material should probably be about .03 to .05 less that your uncoverd DMAX area. For a kallitype the DMAX will probably range roughly from 1.35 to 1.45, about the same as you can expect from a palladium print.

Your ES of 2.1 seems a bit high but not totally unreasonable. From looking your scan I suspect you may be double coating.

Perhaps someone else will chime in with some suggestions.

Good luck,

Don Bryant

[donbga]

The color density range palette is definitely too light, much too light in fact. You should be getting a lot more density than that with the Epson UltraChrome inks. I sure get a lot more with the Epson 2200. Check all your printer settings again and try again. Look at the entire sequence of operations in PDN.

Sandy

Sandy is correct. I just looked at the CDRP and it is too light.

Don Bryant

[Michael Slade]

Your ES of 2.1 seems a bit high but not totally unreasonable. From looking your scan I suspect you may be double coating.

According to two different texts, a DR of 1.8-2.0 is to be expected from Kallitypes. I didn't think that 2.1 was too high, it all depends on where I decide I can see that last seperation of tone, so it is a bit subjective...of course I wanted to be optomistic and went high.

I'll go back and read the PDN text yet again. I read it over and over and it was a bit confusing as to the exact method of determining the standard print time.

I'll read it again, out loud this time.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Oh, I'm not double coating, but coating with an acrylic rod.

EDIT:

I think that the reason I was confused on how to determine the standard printing time, is that it is mentioned nearly 3-4 times with major headings, and then it gets to the part where it tells me *how* to do it.

I think Mark has done a fantastic job of developing this system, it seems to be very intuitive and well thought out. I read the entire text probably twice from beginning to end, and when I actually tried to do it, skipped the section where it went into detail the precise instructions.

I've found the section that I believe I had skipped and will follow those directions implicity.

I think that this is a good early reminder of how to read the text and how to implement the instructions.

2ND EDIT:

Mark just sent me a message regarding the Epson 4000. He says that the printer prints the CDRP 'puny'. Hehe. He gave me some suggestions for printing it with additional ink settings. I'll try them and report.

Thanks for the help.

[Keith Taylor]

2ND EDIT:
Mark just sent me a message regarding the Epson 4000. He says that the printer prints the CDRP 'puny'. Hehe. He gave me some suggestions for printing it with additional ink settings. I'll try them and report.

Michael,
I'm using the Epson 4000 with Mark's PDN system and although I wouldn't describe my results as 'puny', I'm curious to know what those additional ink settings might be. Care to share? Thanks.
Keith.

[Michael Slade]

Michael,
I'm using the Epson 4000 with Mark's PDN system and although I wouldn't describe my results as 'puny', I'm curious to know what those additional ink settings might be. Care to share? Thanks.
Keith.

Keith,

We should swap notes...I'm still not getting the density in my color patches that I am with the black border. Here's what Mark suggested I do.

When printing, once the print settings dialogue box opens, go down to paper settings.

He suggested that I try to print out the color patches with an additional 5% and see what it does. I did 5 seperate printings with additional ink settings of 5, 10, 15, 25 and 35%.

The settings up to 15% did give additional density as measured through my X-Rite densitomiter. The settings at 35 and 25% did give even more density, but the 25% setting started to show very bad banding, and the 35% setting made the ink puddle up and smear very badly. 25 and 35% additional ink is unusable IMO.

I am getting very very good density in the black margins of the color tests, so I did actually print out a negative using all of the inks. I got a negative that I felt would print very well, and did do some testing with printing it as a Kallitype. The results printing the black negative is very encouraging.

I do want to figure out the PDN system, as I know it is far superior to me just messing around and just seeing what will happen.

I will take a photograph of my color tests and post them too. I'm out of town at the moment and away from all of my PDN stuff...so it might be until late Sunday before I can post.

Any suggestions you have would be more than welcome.

Thanks,

[Keith Taylor]

Keith,

We should swap notes...I'm still not getting the density in my color patches that I am with the black border. Here's what Mark suggested I do.

When printing, once the print settings dialogue box opens, go down to paper settings.

He suggested that I try to print out the color patches with an additional 5% and see what it does. I did 5 seperate printings with additional ink settings of 5, 10, 15, 25 and 35%.

The settings up to 15% did give additional density as measured through my X-Rite densitomiter. The settings at 35 and 25% did give even more density, but the 25% setting started to show very bad banding, and the 35% setting made the ink puddle up and smear very badly. 25 and 35% additional ink is unusable IMO.
Thanks,

Michael,

I've tried to calibrate the PDN system twice, the first time having very similar results to what you now describe. That was back at the beginning of the year. I recently tried again and the results were very different - you wouldn't even know it was the same printer. I'm using the negs for platinum-palladium prints and they print beautifully, so have faith!

My working procedure remained constant for both attempts; same paper, mix, coating technique etc. But I did change two things regarding the printer.

1. The Epson 4000 needs regular head-cleaning, at least mine does. If I know I won't use it for a day or so then I'll at least print out a nozzle check pattern daily to try and keep it clean. I learnt the hard way when I spent two evenings continuously running the head cleaning cycle and buying ink carts. This I never used to do regularly.

2. I installed the most recent driver and firmware. The latest updates are from July. http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/s...s&platform=All

Now, I can't say for sure whether these have played a part in all this, but I do know that the first time, I too was increasing the color density settings to +25-30% to get some density, but now that's not necessary.

Keith.

[Michael Slade]

Keith,

That is very encouraging news. I know my printer head is clean, I regularly check it, but will do it again.

I'll make sure I have the latest drivers too.

Thanks!