I finally had a chance to print my first ImagOn DTP test plate. It turns out I was so excited about examining the plate itself, that I forgot to reverse the text so that it would read correctly in the print. The print was made with Akua Mars Black ink right out of the can, on damp Rising Stonehenge. My take aways are

• It is possible to get a full value scale using ImagOn DTP.
• 720dpi gives pretty decent results and is actually better than some coarse aquatint screens. I can see the individual dots but they look very uniform.
• The plate might be under-exposed. I will have to do some more test strips to find out. The nice thing about ImagOn DTP is that it uses the very high density matte black ink, so it should have a wider exposure latitude than techniques that use transparent inks in conjunction with an aquatint screen.
• I will have to make some adjustment curves to linearize the output. I can either make Photoshop curves, or QuadToneRip curves.

The printer head strikes are clearly visible in this print. It is nice to know that my new carrier eliminates the head strikes.

This test strip demonstrates that it is possible to get a full value scale by printing a dithered dot pattern directly to an ImagOn plate.