Final Thoughts

With a little effort in Photoshop and the PiezographyBW system, just about anyone is capable of producing superb Black and White prints from even the most ordinary of negatives (also colour slides converted to greyscale).

It takes a while to get used to the nuances of PiezographyBW, but once you kick off the shackles of conventional black and white printing (wet darkroom) and begin to make use of its properties you will be converted. The incredible shadow detail and smooth midtones are what PiezographyBW is all about. Prints have a depth and quality that resin coated media can never achieve, and they look even better under glass. It really does give the appearance of a Bromide print except of course, we can forget the prolonged washing and drying process of that medium.

I have only tried two papers, I'm told they aren't even the best at the showing the full potential of PiezographyBW. If this is true, then black and white printing has entered a new era, an era were drop dead gorgeous black and white prints will for many, become the norm rather than the exception.

As I have mentioned above, the warm tone appears to be a function of the paper coating, some papers apparently print more neutral than others. Thankfully, Cone Editions have a very extensive range of papers on sale at their web site. They also provide details of the expected tonal shift with each. A sample pack of various papers is also provided at very reasonable cost, so we really have very few excuses for not trying various alternatives. You should also recall my mention of new cooler toned inks and specially coated paper that should be available shortly.

The image presented below is the one from which the histograms and screen grabs were taken. The final print was scanned back into Photoshop in 36 bit RGB mode using LaserSoft SilverFast software. The image has undergone NO adjustment, the tone you see below is the tone of the final print

 

Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin

 

I make no claims to be a "good" black and white printer, but that does not mean that I do not know a good print when I see one. PiezographyBW prints are exceptionally good. I have shown my prints to many other individuals whom I know to be very keen and able black and white darkroom workers (two of whom are "International" award winning B&W printers). At time of writing this review I have not received one dissenting voice about the quality of the prints shown. In fact many have commented that, had they not seen and handled the prints, they would not have believed that inkjet printing has come so far.

Be warned, PiezographyBW is a system, inks, driver and media profiles. Therefore, it is not appropriate to compare it with a simple quad black ink set and the standard Epson printer drivers. To do so would be a gross injustice to PiezographyBW.

In the last paragraph of the user manual "Introduction" Jon Cone writes the following:

When I first started to use the PiezographyBW system, this paragraph was of no significance to me. Judging by the comments I read on the dedicated PiezographyBW user group forum it appears that a majority of users to date are of similar mind. We all appear to be trying to replicate the processes of the conventional darkroom. Worse, we appear to be tied up in scanning, resolution, ink-tone, degree of sharpening, etc. I agree that all these point are important. However, I also believe that when Jon Cone wrote that paragraph he had something more in mind.

All those who have used the system agree that PiezographyBW has the ability to reproduce a much wider tonal range than conventional darkroom paper. Many users have remarked at the ability of PiezographyBW to print into an area of the negative that is well beyond conventional photographic prints. It also has a much greater ability to render the subtlety lit highlight areas. The tonal range PiezographyBW is to all intents and purposes infinite. However, many of the scanners we use simply cannot deliver the goods when it comes to TRUE shadow detail. We think we see detail, we think we see grain, but are we just kidding ourselves?

A raw digital image of a Canon D30, Nikon D1 or even the Olympus E10 will show very little, if any, noise in even the deepest shadows. The dynamic range of today's digital cameras probably exceeds that of conventional film and so the shadow regions in particular will contain significant detail. Even after interpolating the image up to a reasonable print size, say 14 by 11 inches and printing at 240 dpi the quality of the shadows in a PiezographyBW print can surpass a 35mm scanned at 4000ppi. The sample images that I have printed (small sections) from Canon D30 raw files are nothing short of amazing in terms of shadow detail.  As things stand, these cameras still provide an insufficient number of pixels to truly allow the larger black and white prints we so require for exhibition sized images, but given the pace of digicam development, that may soon been rectified. When that day comes, I think we will understand the full capability of PiezographyBW. 

As things stand today, I'm satisfied enough with the PiezographyBW print quality obtained from the Canon D30 images that I've just bought one! The D30 that is :-) Although, my serious black and white photography will continue to be undertaken my trusty Mamiya 645 Super loaded with Agfa APX film.