The short answer is that I don't know the source of what MIS is selling currently.
The long answer is that I suspect there has been some instability in the input MK as Image Specialists was acquired by STS and the facilities moved and combined.
The STS wj1082 lot numbers I've tested are slightly different from the Eboni that was sold a year ago. The MIS Eboni I purchased several months ago was also different than the older Eboni as well as slightly different from the STS new wj1082.
STS claims the wj1082 they are now producing is the same as what Image Specialists sold to MIS in the past -- like a year ago. Some communications I had suggests to me that while the carbon is the same, there may be an upgraded dispersant that might be causing the slight differences. Better dispersion and suspension would obviously be good things, and the higher dmax is also a very good thing. The slightly higher Lab B on a number of papers is still lower than the other carbons, with some papers being winners and some losers. It's just slightly different.
Part of what MIS brings to the table is searching for the best carbon, and that is what they are doing now. Part of their concern is consistency of the inputs. I share my findings with them -- detailed spectro readings from 2 different STS batches (which were very consistent with each other). They have also purchased the new STS inks and tested it. I just don't know if they are ready to commit to that input and whether what they are currently selling is based on it or older Image Specialists'; inputs.
Paul
On Tue, Dec 2, 2014 at 7:25 AM, ganb@... [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint] <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Paul, based on your testing then, is the STS WJ1082 different from the current MIS Eboni K ink?
Thanks,Gan