Arlene,
FWIW, here is my take on it, and I've studied Mark's outstanding work at Aardenburg Imaging and done my own testing.
You wrote:
> It is my understanding that Epson K3 ink is archival,
There is no precise definition of "archival." It's a question of how much you need or want. There are trade-offs between the ultimate in archival -- both lightfastness and physical substrate reliability -- and other desirable attributes of the B&;W medium.
Carbon is significantly stronger than the best OEM color pigments. The OEM color pigments are the best color.
The OEM grays are not 100% carbon. They are blends of carbon plus colors. Thus they are not up the the 100% carbon of the Eboni-6, MIS K4-LK, LLK (and some of the B&W glossy ink positions in UT7, etc.) and Jon's Carbon Sepia.
The third party blended carbon-color inksets are not as good as the OEM blended carbon-color neutral inks. HP PK and gray have been my favorites for blended neutral inks for some time (but they really bronze unless an MIS glop type dilution base is used).
I have never tested or seen a test of the Epson K3 LK, but it9;s probably going to be in my next fade test.
> and also the carbon inks from Jon Cone and MIS ...all pigment.
Beware of the blended carbon + color B&W inksets. They are good enough for most purposes, but the color in them does not appear to be as stable as the OEM blends. Controlling the color shifting as the color pigments fade deferentially is the largest challenge.
>Are there any archival pigment inks for Canon or HP?
Their pigments are excellent, but all of them use more color than needed for B&W. Thus they are a notch down from what we can do. By taking control of the carbon to color blend, we can do better with custom inksets. You'll note, however, that I use Canon color pigments for my toner in the Eboni variable tone inksets, and I use HP PK & Gray pigments for the best pre-blended neutrals.
The OEM systems are just fine for most users unless you want to save money or take it up a notch to a higher percentage of carbon (which is the ultimate B&W imaging substance for what we do) and many more carbon channels firing for smoothness.
Paul