Digital BW, The Print

Bob,

You wrote:

>...
>Is the FS-N just FS with cyan?

The primary reason for the superior warming performance of FS-N (and also
the colder MIS VM curves) is that the MIS archival (pigment) cyan is
incredibly fade resistant.  (Magenta also needs to be added, or the print
would be greenish.)  Because the cyan doesn't fade as fast as the other
inks, it offsets the warming.

>I'm not seeing the normal warming even with FS.

MIS FS prints warm, but not as much or as fast as the other quads due to FS
being based on the MIS VM/FS black.  That black is also incredibly tough.
Diluting this black for the midtone base is clearly another part of why the
FS-N performs so well.

>Is the FS-N cyan position a hair denser than FS cyan?

They are supposed to be the same density, but between the ideal and the
realities of production, things could vary a hair (including from sample to
sample).

>I am thinking about a split tone set using:

>K=FS Black
>C=80%FSN-20%FS
>M=30%FSN-70%FS
>Y=FS

>Now I can cheat little and put your jpeg
>into layers for simulation.

Given the inaccuracies of my scanner, I'm not sure you'll get as close to
the actual print tones as you'd like.  Perhaps as a first approximation it
will be helpful, but I would not rely on scans too much.

>The "blue" FS-N and the warmed FS
>also seems to create the potential for
>green transitions...

There is more magenta in the FS-N than in, for example, the MIS VM toner in
an attempt to stop the tendency to green if just cyan is used.  I'm not sure
if the green you see is an artifact of the scan as opposed to the mixing of
the FS & FS-N.

>Do you have a sense of how the inks are partitioned
>using the piezo driver; e.g. which colors are used
>over which density range?

I just printed a test wedge with the Piezo driver, but through my 3000 that
has VM-sepia in it.  The sepia toner -- yellow position in the quads -- is
very strong through 30% and then fades away.  However, one can still see the
sepia toner through about 70%, but by then it is in very small amounts.

I can't trace the magenta position ink, but I'd assume it starts at about
25%.  The cyan position probably starts about 50%.  To stop too much ink
from being on the paper, the yellow and, to a lesser extent, the magenta &
cyan have to be pulled back as one approaches the black.  By the 100% black,
you want the black to be poured in, but the total volume of ink can't get so
much as to cause pooling on the paper.  So, all the other inks are reduced
in volume as that point is reached.  In theory, I'd think the 100% black
patch should be 100% black ink.  I can't say whether this is actually the
case, however.

>If the FS and FS-N Blacks are the same

They are.

>what's happening in the fader...?

>Admittedly several steps causing error
>but I get 3X3 eyedropper readings of your fade scans:

I use a 5x5 pixel width for the eyedropper for quick looks.  For better
accuracy, select a large area within a patch and use the Histogram (in the
Image drop-down menu) mean reading.

>FS faded black RGB 21-18-13

>FS-N faded black RGB 14-13-8

The difference is probably that the FS was done with the 1160 and the FS-N
with the 3000.  The 3000 puts down slightly more black ink.  (There can also
be ink and paper batch differences and differences depending on the mood of
the printer on the day in question ....  For the control and test strip for
a particular ink, I always print them on the same piece of paper and at the
same time.)

When comparing the test strips, be sure to compare the faded ones only to
their control strips.  There are density differences that have nothing to do
with fading or warming.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com
______________

>Paul wrote

> I put test strips (EAM paper) printed with MIS FS and FS-N in my fader for
> 300 hours to see whether the production FS-N would warm less, as it is
> supposed to.  A scan of the results is in the Files section of the forum.
>
> The Files section is at:
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/files/
>
> Then to "Ink Sets, reviews and techniques," then "MIS FS."
>
> The image file is "300_Fade_FS-N_FS.jpg."
>
> I think the visual comparison speaks for itself.  The FS ink, like all the
> quads, warmed noticeably.  The MIS FS-N test strip is about the same tone
as
> the control test strip.
>
> Paul
> http://www.PaulRoark.com