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Author Topic: Can very good printer + ink + paper match saturation of very good monitor?  (Read 3107 times)

l_d_allan

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My understanding is that a very good monitor (Adobe-98 + IPS) will tend to "look better" than an inkjet print, even made with very good inkjet paper, ink, and printer. My impression was this was due to not only the monitor having better dynamic range, but also better saturation.

Or not? Can an inkjet print match the saturation of a monitor? Such as a synthetic test, like Bill Atkinson's "28 balls"?
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tim wolcott

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Re: Can very good printer + ink + paper match saturation of very good monitor?
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2013, 11:11:24 am »

To answer Yes.  But the colors cannot be out of gamut.  I have not seen the 28 balls. Will look it up though.  But needs to be on a luster based paper if you want the brightest colors and Dmax, and if you want the colors to last over time than no OBA's should be there.  What a lot paper manufacturers aren't telling you guys is that they have OBA or the paper yellows fairly quickly.  Tim
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JRSmit

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Re: Can very good printer + ink + paper match saturation of very good monitor?
« Reply #2 on: November 15, 2013, 11:47:36 am »

Yes and No.

Injetprinters like the epson x900 can on certain papers bring higher saturations, but not over the entire tonal range.
The dynamic range though of monitors is higher than papers.
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stevenarnott

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Re: Can very good printer + ink + paper match saturation of very good monitor?
« Reply #3 on: November 15, 2013, 12:03:09 pm »

I don't think you can compare the two. It's like comparing viewing a transparency on a lightbox to viewing a print from that transparency.

The difference is in transmitted light vs. reflected light; not sure saturation per se has much to do with the difference in the viewing experience.
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Christoph C. Feldhaim

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Re: Can very good printer + ink + paper match saturation of very good monitor?
« Reply #4 on: November 15, 2013, 12:10:38 pm »

From the Imatest Website: http://www.imatest.com/guides/image-quality/print-dmax/
Quote
Dmax = -log10(minimum print reflectivity) is a measure of the deepest black tone a printer/ink/paper combination can reproduce. It is an extremely important print quality factor. Prints with poor Dmax look pale and weak. Dmax = 1.7 is a good value for matte prints; 2.0 is a good value for glossy, semigloss, and luster prints. There have been reports that the new Epson Ultrachrome K3 printers have Dmax as high as 2.3 with Premium Luster paper. That would be outstanding.

A DMax of 2.3 would result in a contrast ratio of 1:102.3= 1:200.
Modern Monitors easily surpass that by far.
But this is not gamut - its just contrast ratio.
You might get better brilliance if you present backlit transparent prints, but you'd still be limited by the Dmax of your printer.
So - the question is what do you really want to have or are you talking about?
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