Digital BW, The Print

John,

>on WWW.inksupply.com site no reference is made to a "Neutral" MIS
>Full Spectrum. How can you order such set?

Call MIS at 800-445-8296 to order the inks that are not on the website.
This includes the FS-neutral and the VM-sepia.

> Are the tones really cooler
>than the one obtained from Piezo (with piezo inks set)?

Definitely. If you like neutral silver prints, FS-N is a good choice.

>Can you use all the paper profiles provided with the Piezo software
>together with a "Neutral" MIS FS set?

I have not heard of any problems.  I also haven't tried them all with the
two inksets, and there is at least a theoretical chance that the profiles
could be off a bit due to absorption differences between inksets.  However,
all of these inksets are pigment-based with, apparently, the same viscosity
and general printing characteristics.  So, I expect all the profiles work
close to the same with these inksets.

>Is it possible to use the Piezo software with the MIS VM?

Well, I don't think so.  I understand some do, but the toner is in the
yellow spot with quads, thus your toner would be used very heavily in the
highlights, but not much in the shadows.  For example, I just printed a
VM-sepia test strip with the Piezo driver and a 3000.  the highlights are
very sepia, then the color fades away in the midtones, and the deep shadows
look rather cool in comparison.  I don't think it is a pleasing tonal
distribution.  Also, the midtone separation looks poor.

In hextone machines the densities of the inks are quite different than Piezo
due to the fact that the VM system is a true hextone, whereas the Piezo
system only uses 4 densities.  So, I don't know what the tonal and density
distribution would look like -- Bad would be my guess.

So, I don't recommend using the Piezo driver with VM inks.  The FS-N and
VM-sepia do share a common cyan and gray ink base, and all the FS and VM
inksets use the same black.  However, the inksets are quite different and
should be used with workflows that are specifically designed for them.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com