Comments on: Black & White Chronicles

By: Dennis Bertuccelli

Dennis Bertuccelli — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 01:48:41 +0000

I recall a summer Santa Cruz night. Two wide-eyed adolescents holding their bikes on the hill past the old Evergreen Cemetery above the Harvey West Park — waiting. Suddenly for a millesecond the entire valley lights up as if a comet had crashed or a huge strobe had been charged, ignited.. The boys could only murmur “wow”, and then ride those old bikes like the wind, fleeing their mischief. The device had performed flawlessly. The Marlboro cigarette had ignited the fuse leading to the aluminum cigar tube packed with black powder and powdered magnesium and the resulting flash/explosion was good, very good..

By: Geert Wilhjelm

Geert Wilhjelm — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 22:58:28 +0000

Mac Holbert : “Now if someone could come up with a paper that could emulate the look of an air dried silver print……”

EPSON Glossy Paper – Photo Weight. S041349 is what you are looking for. Feels and looks just like an air dried silver print.

Discontinued, but I saved some sheets, and I really hope they will change their minds.

By: Ammar Midani

Ammar Midani — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 10:14:37 +0000

Jeff how matching is this song.

Music: David Crosby, Stephen Stills;
Lyrics David Crosby (c) 1994 Stay Straight Music,
all rights adm by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., BMI

CAMERA

I rode my bike to town today
Wobbling down the path
I knew the kids would see me
I love it when they laugh

And I wish I were a camera
And I could slice time like a knife
Seeing stories in the faces
And crystallizing life

Wish I were a camera
I wish it all the time
It gives my eyes a reason
It gives my life a rhyme

I’d be a lens that could see souls
A shutter that never shuts
I’d have film that lasts forever
And I would live in huts

In the jungles of South America
Like my father before the war
I’d find out where we came from
And what this life is for

And I wish I were a camera
I wish it all the time
It gives my eyes a reason
It gives my life a rhyme

I would climb right off this planet
On the clearest night of all
And photograph the future
When it finally comes to call

I would save up all these images
These instants in a box
And when I am old and lonely
They could cover up the clocks

And I wish I were a camera
I wish it all the time
It gives my eyes a reason
It gives my life a rhyme

I wish that I could shoot at night
And leave without a trace
And catch my lover’s sleeping smile
By the starlight on her face

But I think mostly that l’d see children
‘Cause they haven’t learned to hide
And they watch me on my bicycle
And laugh with me as I ride

By: Val Brunell

Val Brunell — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 23:23:12 +0000

I concur with Mr. Watson. While Epson has made great strides in B&W and their continuing efforts are to be applauded, others – notably Jon Cone, MIS, and Roy Harrington (Quadtone RIP) – have given us very good B&W utilizing Epson’s hardware well ahead of Epson themselves. This is particulary true for budget-restrained photographers, both amateur and pro.

I believe Epson is getting to the reasonably priced “out-of-the-box” B&W printing solution many of us want. (Perhaps with their new printer line and inks they are already there.) But they hardly pioneered digital B&W printing.

By: Jan Herrstedt

Jan Herrstedt — Mon, 04 Jul 2005 10:50:02 +0000

Mac Holbert said : “Now if someone could come up with a paper that could emulate the look of an air dried silver print……”. In fact Epson has made it themself. The paper Epson Glossy Paper- Photo Weight. It was made for the Epson 2000P printer, but unfurtunately Epson has discontenued the product. I dont know why because it works perfect with the new 2400 K3 inks.

By: Bruce Watson

Bruce Watson — Sun, 03 Jul 2005 16:02:50 +0000

Many photographers think world class B&W truly arrived some years back. I’m talking about the Cone PiezoTones and the MIS UT7 inksets in particular.

Tonal linearity apparently is much improved by going to more dilutions of black ink. New inksets from Cone, for example, will have seven dilutions, compared to the K3 inks from Epson which have three.

The K3 inkset is a valiant effort by Epson to keep up and I applaud their efforts. But the K3s hardly lead the pack at this stage for B&W prints. On the other hand, if you need or desire a solution that lets you print color and B&W from the same printer (for whatever reason you don’t want to dedicate a printer to B&W) then the new Epsons are indeed a great step forward for you.