Digital BW, The Print

>... Noritsu ink? ... I thought they used Epson tech and inks in their printers. Bulk Claria would be fantastic!


They never say directly that it's Claria.  The official line is indicated below:


http://global.epson.com/newsroom/2008/news_20080421.htm
"TOKYO, Japan, April 21, 2008 –
Noritsu Koki Co., Ltd. ("Noritsu") and Seiko Epson Corporation ("Epson") have reached a basic agreement to establish a broad business alliance designed to further consolidate and develop their printing equipment businesses.
…
(2) Roles in the alliance
"Dry" minilabs and industrial printers
•	Noritsu will be primarily responsible for product design and production.
•	Epson will be primarily responsible for developing inkjet device technology, software, and inks."


http://www.noritsu.co.jp/english/news/20090213.html 
"The ink used in the D703 has an improved molecular structure so it is able to withstand light and ozone, thus producing prints that boast excellent image permanence.
 Inkjet technology was provided by Seiko Epson Corporation."



Fuji is part of the alliance also, from what I can tell.  They may own an equity stake in Epson, although I don't have a copy of the article that talked of that.  Recall that Fuji large format printers even have the same Epson model numbers on them.  Internet hearsay (for what little it may be worth) has Fujifilm reps saying the DL410 dye ink is "stangely similar to Epson Claria dye inks."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photographic_developer
"In March 2006, Noritsu and Fuji announced a strategic alliance. Noritsu now manufactures all of Fuji's photofinishing hardware."


The Noritsu D700 and D1005, as well as the Fujifilm Frontier DL410 "Dry" minilab systems are becoming ubiquitous.  Costco, Walmart, Sam's club, and hordes of smaller photo finishers are using them.  The supplies are also becoming available from lots of suppliers, not to mention the possibility of the photo finishers reselling.  

These supplies have even been offered on eBay for starting bids as low as $99 (for 500 ml)  They generally go unsold.  There must be no shortage of this ink.

This suggests to me that this is the new baseline for measuring what we do.  Costco, Walmart and the local corner drugstore are producing what www.noritsu.com claims are "archival prints" with this ink that must cost resellers less than $99/500 ml.  

I don't consider this advanced dye "archival" compared to 100% carbon or the OEM pigments, but much of the third party color pigments or inksets that use those could be in trouble.  Check your ink's performance on http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/ .   Compare the color ink performance with Claria color, and compare the B&W performance with the Claria black only -- particularly if sprayed with a UV spray (which I assume would be similar to UV glass).

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com