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Try and remember that what happens in the USA does
not happen elswhere so the fact that there were additional suppliers in the USA
means nothing to a European.
Equally you should assume that there are/were more
than one set of four colour inks available and indeed I used a set from Japan
that had abetter than average Cyan. However that does not indicate that most
users were into commercial production volumes and had neither the time nor
inclination to use specials that required different masking
techniques.
In addition I can assure you that whatever the
limitations of Kodak dyes I never claimed theoritical perfection but they
were vastly better than printing inks.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 7:17 PM
Subject: Re: Masking, part 1
Original message:
>Message: 6
> Date:
Mon, 13 May 2002 19:24:41 +0100
>From: "dickbo" <dickbo@btopenworld.com>
>Subject:
Re: Masking, Part 1
>Just remember that the masking system described
is for dye transfer dyes
>which at one time only Kodak supplied as they
had the patents on the best
>spectral quality dyestuff
>That
is the reason that dye transfer produces a very good black
without
>either grey balance or the need for a black
printer.
>You must assume that any other dyes are of lower quality
and therefore need
>a much higher level of colour
correction.
I would have to disagree with the last statement; no
such across the board assumption should be made. There were several
alternative dye sets to Kodak's available to printers during the 80's, most
notably the set produced by Morely Bard of Bard Experimental Enterprises of
Pomano Beach, Florida. His was basically a one-man company, who produced
a set of 10 dyes (3 cyans, 3 magentas, and 4 yellows). Archival
improvements were addressed as well as spectral characteristics; i.e. a worker
now had the ability to choose a particular dye based on the color requirements
of the image. Also, although Kodak's dye set was quite good, it was far
from being perfect. It was impossible to reproduce a neutral gray scale
from an unmasked silver step tablet, and printers always complained that the
yellow was too warm...
Dave Schrader
Landfall
Photo
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