As I've blogged before, I'm in the process of experimenting digital negatives with my Epson 2200 printer and Pictorico OHP Film. I've discovered that somehow my contrast adjustment curve is so different than usual ones that I cannot use Dan Burkholder's method. I finally received my new X-RITE 810 densitometer and I started the callibration as suggested by Mark Nelson right away.
The process he describes in his e-book looks quite complicated, but it actually is very simple.
- Find out the standard exposure time for your paper, developer, film material using a 21-step wedge.
- Print a 101-step callibration pattern without any curve applied
- Measure the densities of each of the 101 cells
- Create a contrast adjustment curve using the excel sheet provided with the CD-ROM
- Apply the new curve, print the negative and print the callibration pattern again
The whole process took about 1.5 hours and it was quite straightforward. My curve shown left actually looks very different from the usual ones. It kinda just darkens all the hightlights and shadows. The acual print that I made looked pretty good. It was actually the first time I was able to make a digital negative print that looked similar to what I saw on screen. The hightlights were too light and I am planning to re-callibrate next week.
The following shows how the image changes during each step of the conversion before printing it. First one is the original color image, the second one is b&w converted, the third shows the inverted image and the last one is after the adjustment curve applied.
You'll notice how dark the resulting negative is. I will soon post how the print looks like.
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