Are you serious? Ctein is 'just' a DT printer, not the finest. You had better study up the history of DT printing.
But, if almost no one else is doing DT's. and Ctein is a DT printer, then Ok, maybe since he is the last one doing DT's he can be considered the finest DT printer in the world under that convoluted thinking.
Here is the deal with him Ctein....
Bob Pace used to tell me the men were separated from the boys when it came to skin tones. You ever see him do DT's of skin tones? Only landscapes and mostly boring ones at that. (but that is a statement of personal taste, so that is my own opinion.)
I don't put much worth in Ctein. He is too ego driven to see any truth. If it does not come from within him he must be discounted as useless due to his bloated ego.
I will go over it all when I write the report. I will send in photos and scans when the report is done.
Basically I scanned a high grade dye transfer print. Processed the TIFF scan files into 3 exposures with LR. Then turned the 3 images into 1 fused image using Photomatrix. (Now, I'm not talking freaked out tone mapping. I am talking about *invisible* very slight HDR that just adds depth.)
The resulting ink jet print from that 3 into 1 image equaled or surpassed the dye transfer print with IQ. Without the 3 into 1 process, the scan of the dye transfer lacked some depth and transparency. (This again confirms what the knuckleheads tell me I can't do. I can get get some HDR effects from 1 RAW image processed into 3 images with exposure adjustments in PP.)
I used a Canon 5 ink color printer from Walmart that cost $100. I used Epson 4 star pro paper. The printer was set to the highest quality printing setting.
The best way to have done this test would have been to spend a few thousand $$ for the finest Epson printers. Buy the Epson $700 ink packs and run a shootout with a print made by Bob Pace and use the same the original chrome or negs he used for the DT to make the ink jet print.
But I was not able to do that. So this was what I came up with and the results were astounding...even with a $100 Walmart 5 ink printer. So, if my half ass setup will equal the finest Eastman DT prints I feel very comfortable making this announcement.
Oh, I call ink jet, machine made DT's. That is my name. Eastmans DT used cyan magenta yellow dyes. Ink jet use the same color dyes and black. I wont argue chemical makeup.