Well the consenses seems to be to use what ever printis sent in for rating the printers. Submitted prints have to be made from the submitters own photos to be considered for the prizes. Remember your print has to be post marked no latter that December 15, 2001 to be considered for the prizes.
Ciao, graywolf The are now prizes for all three top prints: Grand Prize is the Swiss army style knife with the PENTAX logo. Second Prize is a leather genuine PENTAX keycase. Third Prize is a PENTAX lapel button from this years PMA the one with the MZ-S on it. All prizes were donated by the South Eastern Area PentaxUSA Sales Rep REPOST of original challenge. Revised 12/11/01: Ok, I have given Aaron's expansion of my challenge some thought. I just wanted to see a truly photographic quality digital print from a consumer inkjet. I have never seen one though I have seen many that I was told were "you can not tell from a photo". Aaron has given me an expanded idea, and a small service I can give back to the list. So here's the deal. Send my your best digital print from a consumer printer along with the brand and model of your printer and of course your name and e-mail address. I will publish a monthly list of those printers rated based on the best print I have received to date. The ratings will be: Pictorial value of the image will not be considered except for the thee prizes (only submitter's own photos).. A. Awful (Why did they bother to send this.) B. Better. (Comparable to a newspaper color photo. Common digital printer faults like banding clearly visable) C. Cool (A very nice print, but not photographic in appearance. Some banding visible. Comparable to a magazine photo.) D. Delightful (Nearly photographic quality. Visible halftoning. Slight banding Comparable to a glossy magazine photo.) E. Excellent (Equal to a good mini-lab print. No visable bandingt. No halftoning visible to the naked eye.) F. Fantastic (Equal to a custom print by an expert printer. No halftoning visible with a 4x loupe.) G. Gorgeous (Equal to the very best glossy ilfochrome custom prints). I will compile a monthly list of the printers that have been submitted along with the highest rating a print from that printer has achieved. I won't publish anything about lower rated prints, as I think we are interested in the potential capability of the particular printer rather than the skill of the operator. However, upon request I will provide the submitter the rating of his print via personal e-mail, he/she may share that with the list if they want. My reference print that I will compare your digital prints to is the mini-lab print of our own Tom Van Veen that he put up on his website. It is a competent mini-lab print with a full range of tonalities from black to white so should make a good reference and insure that I am comparing all prints to the same standard. I will also publish here on the list the names of the submitters of the three best (my opinion is final) prints I have received each year conferring upon them the title of "PDML Master Digital Photographic Printer". Also the top three for 2001 will receive modest prizes donated by the Pentax Rep in my area. A high honor indeed. Postmark deadline for 2001 will be December 15, 2001 to be considered for the 2001 prizes. So send your print ASAP via snail mail to: to: PDML Challenge c/o Tom Rittenhouse 4018 Hiddenbrook Dr Charlotte, NC 28205 USA 1. All rights to the photo remain the photographers. 2. It will not be published with out specific permission of the photographer. 3. It will not be returned unless adequate return postage is included. (Hopefully, being digital you can easily make another copy.) 4. Prizes will be awarded --graywolf Ciao, graywolf - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .