Digital BW, The Print

Inspired by Robert Morrison's recent post, I tried to duplicate his findings on 
the Epson Premium Luster paper using piezoBW inks and coating with Krylon.

To my surprise, his coated dmax numbers were.... conservative!

In fact, Robert found an uncoated dmax of 1.91, while mine came in at 1.85. 
This establishes a basis for comparing the numbers. Either because of the 
individual printer or the measuring instruments, my number was 0.06 LOWER 
than his. So far so good.

The surprise was to find that the coated dmax measured a staggering 2.28 in 
my tests. His was 2.11.  That's 0.17 HIGHER, or a 0 .43 increase.  I suspect 
this is largely due to differences in coating procedure. I made a point of 
coating 3 times, with forced-air drying in-between. Otherwise, same Krylon, 
same driver, profile, inks, printer.

So, those of you who need deep black, are willing to pay about 0.50/sheet of 
Premium Luster and don't mind spray coating, (or any print-life issues), pay 
attention to how to lay down that Krylon for maximum benefit.

Fresh from the "research lab".

Antonis Ricos