Topic: Ansel Adams digital prints (Read 14432 times)

uaiomex · « **on:** November 28, 2008, 05:21:48 pm »

Linking courtesy of TOP
http://www.anseladams.com/index.asp?PageAc...mp;Category=113

Say using a 12 ink printer to produce archival digital prints from the Ansel Adams archives.
I wonder which printer/paper combo they're using

Anybody knows?
Eduardo

JimGoshorn · « **Reply #1 on:** November 28, 2008, 05:28:45 pm »

Quote from: uaiomex

Say using a 12 ink printer to produce archival digital prints from the Ansel Adams archives.
I wonder which printer/paper combo they're using

At the site they say they welcome questions so I emailed that question to them but haven't gotten a reply. It would be very interesting to know what combo they consider good enough to properly depict his B&W prints.

aeroektar · « **Reply #2 on:** November 29, 2008, 03:27:50 pm »

I was just going to post about this same thing. My guess is a Roland FJ 540.

Eric Myrvaagnes · « **Reply #3 on:** November 29, 2008, 05:48:04 pm »

Anybody else remember what Ansel's prints used to sell for in the 1960s at Best's Studio in Yosemite? He had a special series that he printed in large numbers (process described in "The Print") that he made himself (before he had assistants print them for him), 8x10s mounted, signed, numbered for $6 (that number again is: SIX dollars) each. Ah the good ol' days!

Dan Wells · « **Reply #4 on:** November 29, 2008, 06:01:19 pm »

They say that it has FOUR shades of grey. Unless you cheat and count the Matte Black (and this is being printed to something like Photo Rag Baryta or one of its competitors, so it's an F-type paper that uses Photo Black), I can't think of a twelve-ink printer with more than three. Medium grey, anyone? I would imagine that the AA Gallery is a bit too precise to count the unused Matte Black on a gloss paper (or does some printer actually use it as a fourth black - I'd think that wouldn't work - isn't Matte Black actually incompatible (won't dry) with glossy papers)?

-Dan

TylerB · « **Reply #5 on:** November 29, 2008, 06:46:55 pm »

well they say the printer includes 4 blacks, but don't say their prints use all 4 blacks. My guess would be an HPz, if on matte paper all 4 will be used, if on photo paper, just 3.
Tyler

JeffKohn · « **Reply #6 on:** November 29, 2008, 07:03:50 pm »

Doesn't the HP z use all four blacks when printing on photo/glossy papers? I thought I read that somewhere...

The HP inkset also seems to have the best archival ratings currently, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they chose.

TylerB · « **Reply #7 on:** November 29, 2008, 09:18:52 pm »

Quote from: JeffKohn

Doesn't the HP z use all four blacks when printing on photo/glossy papers?...

nope

bill t. · « **Reply #8 on:** November 30, 2008, 12:59:32 am »

Quote from: EricM

Anybody else remember what Ansel's prints used to sell for in the 1960s at Best's Studio in Yosemite? He had a special series that he printed in large numbers (process described in "The Print") that he made himself (before he had assistants print them for him), 8x10s mounted, signed, numbered for $6 (that number again is: SIX dollars) each. Ah the good ol' days!

I bought five of those prints in Spring, 1969, they were $10.00 at that time. I think it was at the Curry Gift Shop, was that Best's? They were on something like wire calendar racks. I remember that I had to come home early because $50.00 broke my vacation budget! Then I passed up another chance to pick some up cheap in 1972 elsewhere, duh! Sold them in the mid 80's for a lot more than $10.00 each, but nothing like what I could get today.

Wonder what Andrew Smith is selling those for now. Maybe I don't want to know.

Ernst Dinkla · « **Reply #9 on:** November 30, 2008, 07:27:26 am »

Quote from: JeffKohn

Doesn't the HP z use all four blacks when printing on photo/glossy papers? I thought I read that somewhere...

The HP inkset also seems to have the best archival ratings currently, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they chose.

Some matte media presets use the quad formation, not all. The gloss media presets only use the PK, MG, LG.

See the most recent PDF HP provides on their media presets and how to use them for Non-HP papers:

http://z3100users.wikispaces.com/file/view...per_6.0.0.8.pdf

halfway the document.

The HP Z3100 black and grey inks are the most neutral of the 3 manufacturers. With B&W images printed with the B&W mode or Color mode of the driver no other ink hues are used, not to neutralise the range, not to fill in the highlight tones with a composite cmY mix. Neutral remains subjective, the paper white has an influence and the user may prefer another "neutral". The B&W mode allows hue addition and in color mode a good profile that takes care of paper color and the tone range color will help too. In that case some other hues will take part too.

Nevertheless it gives the choice of a true quad print with some matte papers while using an 11 ink + 1 varnish printer.

Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

Paul Roark · « **Reply #10 on:** December 02, 2008, 11:16:15 am »

...

>The HP Z3100 black and grey inks are the most neutral of the 3 manufacturers. ... Ernst Dinkla

HP found the formula for "electrosteric" stabilization. See http://h10088.www1.hp.com/cda/gap/display/...7752_4000_100__ The traditional steric stabilization appears to be the cause of carbon warmth. The plain electrostatic stabilizations are simply not stable enough. So this hybrid approach is where we are going. HP got there first.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

framah · « **Reply #11 on:** December 02, 2008, 11:48:47 am »

Talking about buying prints way back... I still have a big coffee table book put out by him in the mid 70's signed by him. I don't have the sleeve for it tho, that got destroyed in a move.

I think I paid $100 for it then. Something like half a weeks pay then.

John E · « **Reply #12 on:** December 02, 2008, 03:34:09 pm »

Quote from: bill t.

I bought five of those prints in Spring, 1969, they were $10.00 at that time. I think it was at the Curry Gift Shop, was that Best's? They were on something like wire calendar racks. I remember that I had to come home early because $50.00 broke my vacation budget! Then I passed up another chance to pick some up cheap in 1972 elsewhere, duh! Sold them in the mid 80's for a lot more than $10.00 each, but nothing like what I could get today.

Wonder what Andrew Smith is selling those for now. Maybe I don't want to know.

Bill, I was in the Smith gallery in Santa Fe last week - the Adams prints they were displaying were all priced at 50K +. WOW.

John E

Colorwave · « **Reply #13 on:** December 02, 2008, 03:43:49 pm »

Still no word on what the AA brain trust chose for a printer?
Inquiring minds would love to know, just for grins.

Brian Gilkes · « **Reply #14 on:** December 02, 2008, 07:44:37 pm »

Not the Roland FJ 540. I have the bigger version the 640. One black, colours as per Epson 9xxx series.

The Roland D'Vinci is possible. That has the 4 blacks from Cone plus a bunch of colours
I'd guess at the HP though..
Cheers,
Brian
www.pharoseditions.com.au

bill t. · « **Reply #15 on:** December 03, 2008, 02:45:07 am »

Quote from: John E

Bill, I was in the Smith gallery in Santa Fe last week - the Adams prints they were displaying were all priced at 50K +. WOW.

Thanks for breaking my heart John! Last time I looked they had "Moonrise Over Hernandez" for $65K. The thing about the $10.00 prints was *most* of them were not hand signed.

Bet you anything those Adams prints are done on as "Epson Pigment Prints." That phrase has worked it's way into "acceptable list" of photo gallery parlance more than any other term relating to inkjet prints. Even the Smith gallery often has big $$$ prints on the wall with those words on the labels.

TylerB · « **Reply #16 on:** December 03, 2008, 04:31:43 pm »

they seemed to express concern over inkjet blacks which sounds like matte, so I doubt a Roland D'Vinci which is not optimized for the newer photo surfaces. Could also be this-
http://www.bowhaus.com/news/successstory.php4
which uses 12 ink Canons and rumored to work well on photo surfaces. Or the mentioned HP, which looks good on some of the new baryta photo surfaces with it's gloss optimizer
Tyler
http://www.custom-digital.com/

jasonrandolph · « **Reply #17 on:** December 03, 2008, 07:27:15 pm »

They could be running an all-black inkset in a printer too, so really, it's all speculation. My guess is that they will keep it a secret, as that would be a pretty strong (unpaid) endorsement for whatever company's gear they use.

BradSmith · « **Reply #18 on:** December 04, 2008, 12:53:25 am »

Just as interesting as to what paper and printer they are using is the question of who is scanning the negatives (I assume that's what they are doing) and who is working on them in photoshop and actually doing the printing? As far as I know, the family has always worked with his former assistants in putting together any new products. I wonder if that is still the case?

Dan Wells · « **Reply #19 on:** December 04, 2008, 02:39:41 am »

They're scanning the PRINTS (it's described on their site), which makes sense due to AA's skill as a master printer - if they scanned the negatives, they'd have to find an artist who could duplicate in Photoshop what he did in the darkroom.

-Dan

Author Topic: Ansel Adams digital prints (Read 14432 times)