Digital BW, The Print

George,

You wrote:

>...
>As far as the [sepia] inkjet solution, I'm waiting for
>Cone to come up with a sepia
>version that will work with the cone rip.
>(Or anyone else????)
>...

My draft FS-Sepia formula is posted in the Files section of this forum:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/files/

Go to "Inksets, Reviews & techniques," then "MIS FS."

I sent the formula to MIS, but they are keeping it on the shelf pending an
indication of some demand.

There are any number of sepia tones.  So, frankly, I can see just using a
color inkset and doing it that way.  However,  my interest was to have a
variable-tone version first.  The FS version was just a simple spin-off from
that, and I want to support the Piezo driver.

With the FS-Sepia the Piezo driver users have the full range of tones
available to them by mixing intermediate tones.  The warm tones that the
less-than-full-on sepia can produce are very nice.  In fact, the neutral
tone of the VM-sepia with the tweaked curves is the best neutral I've seen.

So, the "VM-Sepia" and FS-Sepia are more than just about sepia.  The gray is
the non-warming gray, and the full range of tones are available, with the
color balanced to, in my view, give a better set of tones than before.

The sepia tone I ended up with was set after studying my own samples of old
photos and a number of books.  I thought the most authoritative was a French
government sponsored History of Photography.  I figured they had the  money
to make the best reproductions.  One thing I think I saw was that the very
common albumen prints seem to become more yellow with age or light.

As to the tones that can be achieved with the VM-Sepia, I have stronger
sepia tones for the 1160 and 3000-PC curves.  Since those are the machines I
use, I've tweaked the curves for the inkset.  The 1280-Mac "cc" (cold cold)
curve will also give a stronger sepia than the normal cool curve that is out
there for most of the printers.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com