Digital BW, The Print

"Mark" <mark@...> wrote:
>
> 
> Well, there are more than one kind of kind of monochrome ink set on the market implying full carbon when probably not ;-)
> 


The only 100% carbon pigment inksest I'm aware of are the Piezo carbon sepia and MIS Eboni-based inksets.  MIS PK, LK, and LLK are also 100% carbon but not sold as an inkset as such.  I use them on glossy paper to make sepia toned prints.

The reason I prefer MIS Eboni MK as the basis for the inksets I use & make -- Eboni-6 and Carbon-6 -- is that it is the most neutral of the carbon pigments I've sampled.  While all carbon pigments are warm, some are warmer than others.  The MIS PK, LK, LLK prints on matte with the same warmth as the Piezo carbon sepia.  The matte paper prints are about half the warmth of the glossy MIS LK prints, which can hit a Lab B of 14.  The concentrated Eboni MK in the 1800 3-MK approach is generally more neutral than the dilute Eboni/carbon-6 inksets, but even on the 1.5 pl printers lack of dilute inks will cause some graininess or roughness.  For the 1800 3-MK approach, see http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/R1800.htm

Page 10 of http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/Eboni-6.pdf shows the relative tones of several papers with Eboni-6.  With MIS LK, the Lab b would be about 8 with HPR.

All of the truly neutral inks, particularly if glossy compatible, are blends of carbon plus color pigments -- cyan and magenta (or R800 blue clone ink).  The magenta tends to be a weak ink that fades relatively quickly.  This causes prints made with these blended inks to green shift.  It won't be a significant problem for most users, but for gallery quality work I think it's a mistake to use them.

Among the blended carbon + color inks, I think HP's Z3100/3200 PK and lighter greys are the best by far with respect to tone shifting.  The PK can be diluted with the generic base. See http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/R1800.htm   However, HP pigments bronze badly.  Some have diluted the HP PK with MIS glop to make a neutral, glossy compatible inkset that has the longevity of HP with the minimal bronzing of MIS pigs.  If I were printing neutral glossy prints and selling them through the gallery, I'd probably go with this solution.  For most people, the MIS UT14 C and LC are about the same as the HP PK and LK (grey) -- for a lot less.  On the other hand, when HP PK is blended with the generic base, the total inkset costs start to look more like MIS's prices.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com