Digital BW, The Print

It looks like the OVI ink is doing very well so far in the fade tests.  (Congratulations Tom, if you're monitoring this forum.)  I just did a quick comparison to a recent Epson ABW at the same 20 Mlux-hr stage, and the OVI ink appears to be doing significantly better.  (Then again, I didn't find the exact same paper.)

At this point there really ought to be no secret as to what makes a lightfast inkset.  First is to use the most carbon that is consistent with the color/hue you're targeting. While there are probably differences among different types of carbon pigments, all of them that we usually use seem to be very good.  Second, is that if you're going to tone with a color pigment, use the best.  In that respect, both HP and Epson make or use good color pigments.  Weak color inks used for toning the carbon has been the limiting factor in most third party B&W inksets. OVI is obviously using a very good color pigment in its toners.

I suspect the main lightfastness advantage the OVI inkset has over the Epson ABW is that ABW uses too much color.  QTR can take care of that.

However, I think the OVI inkset is better in other respects.  Perhaps most importantly, it uses more carbon positions.  ABW has only the 3 neutral inks, which can be marginal, depending on how good the particular printer is.  The ABW mode probably uses the excess color in part to help smooth the print, similar to what I have done for the Claria BO printing.  If one uses QTR to eliminate the excess color, however, the limits of the 3 inks may become apparent.  

I believe the OVI toners also make profiling a bit easier by being blended to be more closely aligned with Lab A and B. 

At any rate, it's good to see a solid performance from a third party variable-tone B&W inkset.  I was never able to convince MIS to spend the money to get the top notch color pigments to make a premium MIS B&W variable-tone inkset.  Of course, Eboni-6 holds the high ground still, but for those who want more control over print tone, this may be a good solution.  (I turned to OEM color pigs for toning my personal work years ago.  See http://www.paulroark.com/BW-Info/4K+.pdf)

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com 



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Mark" <mark@...> wrote:
>
> Just a quick note to let Digital BW forum members know that Owens Valley Imaging, Inc (OVI) recently contracted with AaI&A to test its HTv ink set on a couple of samples of Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Duo 276 gsm paper. The samples have reached the 20 Megalux hour mark in test, and the reports have now been added to the AaI&A light fastness database (see ID #s 237 and 238). 
> 
> OVI describes its HTv ink set as " A single, unique archival variable tone carbon inkset. This inkset is for matte/rag printing and uses six pure carbon inks from black to very light gray plus two very stable low-gamut pigments in smalls amount to control print color".  I cannot personally speak to pricing, availability, or printer reliability issues as I have not personally printed with these inks, but the hue and tonality of the samples I received for testing look really good. This ink set may therefore be of interest to end-users looking to try third party multi-shade monochrome ink sets. The link to the OVI website is:
> 
> http://www.ovimaging.com/inks.html 
> 
> cheers,
> Mark
> http/www.aardenburg-imaging.com
>