Author: Tom Eddleman
Posted:
Revised: April 04, 2005
These positives were printed on an Epson 3000 inkjet printer using FastRip software for the halftones. The films were printed at 720 x 720 dpi with the halftone screen set at a frequency of 45 LPI, an angle of 45 deg., and in an elliptical shape for the dots. In the "Transfer Functions Box" the 0 segment was set at 10% to avoid a completely blank space.
The printing procedures and the washout procedures were as close to identical as I could make them, although I must admit to never having two washouts of halftones come out the same.
In the prints at magnification you'll notice there is a dusting of ink around the print. Although it doesn't help the clarity of the print it doesn't make the transition to the photo resist enough to notice. I'm guessing that the light in the exposure unit isn't hindered by its presence.
The purpose of this exercise was to determine if one film had an advantage over another. I proved to myself that there is a difference, but to what degree? Is the difference in the cost worth the difference in the quality? For some high end halftone projects the answer might be yes, but on most vectored artwork I would have to say no.
You decide.
Tom Eddleman
At the links below, you'll find the results on the Intel microscope. Warning! The images have been saved at full size, to allow side-by-side comparison. These pages will take a minute or more to load at 56K!!