Digital BW, The Print

Thank you very much Paul, Terry and Ernst!

Right now, I'm looking for an inkset for a 7600.  Paul has mentioned that
he gets a low dmax with his 4000 and Eboni, a printer of the same
generation as my 7600.

Making an inkset decision is a difficult matter.  I was drawn to the HP ink
because of it's good Aardenburg ratings, resistance to pigment settling,
and lower viscosity, which should mean less clogs.   It sounds like
diluting it with glop would undermine the last quality, and 2nd pass glop
sounds unappealing as well, for the reasons Paul states.

If I had the space for a spray booth, I'd go that way, but I don't.  I do
most of my printing and scanning in the winter. Since I live in Wisconsin,
that means that spraying outdoors will likely not be very feasible.  And
there are questions about the long term qualities of sprays. Sure, they
appear to help prevent ink fading, but do they develop physical problems
over the years such as cracking? Coatings haven't had a great history with
regards to photographs.

Moving to Paul's 5k + LC (My 7600 has 7 ink slots.), I wasn't aware of how
good the Epson M and C are, which is why I didn't investigate the inkset in
detail. It does sound appealing, though.

Terry's investigations are very useful, as I'm hoping to use Canson's
Plantine.  Terry, I see that you sprayed some of your prints for display
without glass.  Would spraying be needed to avoid bronzing and gloss
differential of the prints were mounted behind glass?

My main impetus for this project is to make a series of 10 photos for my
wife's office.  The photos are from Washington State, and they were taken
with a 4x5 view camera.  They're definitely in the F-64 tradition.

Thank you for all of the help!


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